Whitewash
by Zephyros-Phoenix
Summary: COMPLETE - Rewrite of the 2006 game, replacing Rouge with OC, Shadowxoc. With Rouge abroad undercover, Azure is sent to retrieve the Scepter of Darkness. After Shadow rescues her, they must embark on a journey to learn the truth behind the mysterious Mephiles. But Azure harbors secrets about her family and a destiny she is trying to escape while trying to prove herself to Shadow.
1. Mission Assignment

**So here's my other new Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction. You know, as many problems it has, I enjoyed the...2006 game to some degree, in the sense that I got to play as someone other than Sonic, something I've liked since Adventure 2 and Heroes. The reason the game sucked so much was the glitches, voice acting and the...romance...between Sonic and Elise...really? The story...I was pretty ok with it, especially since it's the only game where the bad guy actually succeeds in killing Sonic (I was cheering at that point because as much as I love a hero, I love it when the villain screws the hero over). So I choose to remember this game by what I liked about it and what changes could have been made to make it better.**

**Also, I hate Rouge. I've never liked her. I don't like her outfit and Caren Manuel has pretty much ruined the character for me with her horrendous portrayal of the character. It's also because of this that I hate ShadowxRouge. Since this fic is a rewrite of the 2006 game, replacing Rouge with my character, Azure the Dragon (pic can be found on deviantart).**

**Here's what you need to know about Azure: she's a dragon and has lightning powers. These powers are developing at a far quicker pace than she can control so she must wear restraining gauntlets that absorb the energy her body generates and regulates how much she can expel. **

**Note: This fic will feature some characters from the comic book series. ie. Hope Kintobor, gifted child mechanic of G.U.N.**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. All official Sonic characters, elements and plot belong to SEGA. I only own Azure. This fic is not associated with the Sonic the Hedgehog series.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

"Man Azure, you really need to be more careful," said Hope, tinkering away at Azure's wrist gauntlets that covered her forearms. "If you keep breaking these, you'll-"

"I know, I know. I don't need reminding. We're lucky the last thing I short-circuited was just the toaster oven!" exclaimed Azure.

"Well, I've got a surprise for you! While you were zapping away ever so gracefully at those training droids, I whipped these up for you!" Hope cried with a gleeful smile on her face as she pulled out two circular bands. She handed them to Azure, who had an equally joyful expression on her face.

"No way!" she cried, holding the bands in her hands.

"Yeah, I whipped them up last night. They're made of the strongest metal we have access to, so it's pretty strong. And I've added some modifications. The electricity your body creates is powerful and needs to go somewhere. I've increased the amount of electrical energy that the gauntlets can hold and these little knobs here control the amount of electricity you can expel. For now, I've got it set to small bolts. You know, for safety…of everyone else," Hope laughed.

"Yeah, thanks. This is great, Hope. Thank you so much!" she cried, hugging Hope.

"All right, let's get these on. Ready, one, two, THREE!" As quickly as they could, Hope and Azure removed her old pair of gauntlets with the new ones Hope made.

Azure stood up and felt the gauntlets around her arms. "Well, they fit great and I don't feel all that different," she said.

"Well, you'll get to try them out soon! The Commander wants to see you for an assignment," said Hope.

"Oh, thanks Hope. See you around!" cried Azure, running out of the room.

"Good luck!" Hope shouted back.

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><p>Azure flew down the halls to the Commander's office. "Commander, you wanted to see me?" she asked, saluting him.<p>

"Yes, Azure. Now I know that you've only been here a short time, but you've risen through the ranks quite quickly. I'm impressed with your progress."

"Thank you, sir!"

"How are you adjusting?" he asked.

"Well…it's ok, I guess. You guys aren't exactly chummy with Mobians are you?" she asked nervously.

"There have been some tensions between Humans and Mobians," the Commander added.

"Yeah, well where I come from there aren't any Humans so as far as I've known there was never a problem. There must be something other than just asking how I'm doing, Commander?"

"Yes, on to business. We've managed to locate Dr. Eggman's latest base. He was last seen in White Acropolis near the region of Soleanna. He's acquired an object, rumored to possess great power, called the Scepter of Darkness," explained the Commander.

"The Scepter of Darkness? What's that?" asked Azure.

"We're not quite sure what it is exactly and we don't think Eggman really knows what it does either. But it's got a high amount of energy coming off it and Eggman went to a lot of trouble to get it, so we can't let him have it. I want you to infiltrate Eggman's base and retrieve the scepter."

"Wait, you want **me** to break into Eggman's base? With all the deadly robots and stuff?" she asked frantic and nervous. "Isn't that assignment better suited for someone like, uh, Rouge?"

"Rouge is abroad on an undercover mission at the moment so we are unable to get her on this mission. Azure, I believe you're ready for this level of a mission. We can't let Eggman keep his hands on that scepter," he said, placing his hand on her shoulder for reassurance.

Azure's ears drooped for a second before she looked up at the Commander. "All right, sir. You can count on me!" she said with a salute. "I'll leave for Soleanna immediately!"

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><p>Azure stood outside Eggman's fortress in the snowy outskirts of Soleanna. She hid behind a tree and examined the robots standing guard outside. She turned back around and her breathing hastened. "Ok, it's all right. They're just robots, pieces of metal bound together…armed with bullets that can kill me. No, what am I thinking, I'm a dragon, I'll be fine. The Commander chose me for this mission for a reason. Time to find out what that reason is." She pressed on the clip on her vest and spoke into it, "This is Azure. I've reached Eggman's base, preparing to enter and extract the Scepter of Darkness. I'll report back when the Scepter is in my possession."<p>

"Roger that, agent Azure. You are clear to engage. We will be awaiting your next report in," responded a G.U.N. operator.

Azure took a deep breath and relaxed. "Ok, let's do this!" She looked up at the dark sky and fluttered her wings, easily lifting her into the air. While most other winged people had a single pair of wings like Rouge, Azure had a second smaller pair. While Rouge had her gliding prowess, Azure had greater speed and maneuverability.

_'For an evil genius, he's not giving himself a lot of air defense,'_ thought Azure. She flew over the robot guards and the giant wall surrounding the area. All of a sudden, lasers shot out from all over the top of the wall. "I take it back!" she cried, frantic. She dodged and zigzagged all over the sky, trying her best to avoid the lasers shooting at her. She wasn't so luck when a laser struck one of her upper wings.

Losing altitude, she crashed into the soft snow. She groaned as she pulled herself out of the thick, fluffy snow and brushed it off her shoulders. "Good thing for all this snow, otherwise that landing would have really hurt." She reached back and examined the wing that was hit by the laser. "Hm, it doesn't look too bad," she said. The wing was burned by the laser, but not too severely.

She flapped her wings to get airborne again, but cried out in pain and landed roughly on the ground. "Oh! Ok, that hurts…Man these robots must be packing! I guess I'll have to go on foot then." She heard a soft engine growing louder and looked behind her. "Uh oh, looks like I better make it quick!"

Running through the high concrete walls that surrounded White Acropolis, Azure ducking behind rocks as the search lights passed by. "With this much security, it's no wonder the Commander wants this Scepter of Darkness." She peeked out and saw the search light pass by before running over to more cover. "I better stay out of those search lights if I want to avoid any confrontation."

Azure continued through the Acropolis, careful to stay out of the spotlights before climbing up a ledge to a large door hidden by large pine trees. She walked over to the control panel. "Ugh, I should have paid attention during that hacking lesson. Ok, let's see…the door is sealed and connected to the main power grid and password protected. Well, I know I'm not going to be able to hack this, so…" Azure stepped back from the panel and adjusted a knob on the new gauntlets Hope made for her. She stuck out one finger before leaning away and closing her eyes. She could see the bright flash even with her eyes closed and heard the large doors unlock and slowly open. She quickly turned the knob back and laughed lightly. "Huh…can't believe that actually worked. I thought that only worked in movies."

The doors opened to reveal a dark, long hallway. Azure cautiously strolled in. "No robots? That's a little odd," she said, picking up her pace. She spotted a bright purple light down the hall and found a small staff with wings and a glowing purple liquid in the shaft encased in glass.

Azure pulled out the scanner she was given before she left and held it up to the object. "The energy reading is the same as the Scepter of Darkness, which means this is what I came for." She kicked the glass with her boot and carefully reached in to grab the scepter.

"Not bad for my first big mission," she said confidently, strolling out of the hallway. She stopped when she reached the exit and saw a mass of robots awaiting her. "Boy, I really need stop doing that…"

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><p><strong>Shadow's not the kind of character to be anyone's boyfriend, let alone be one to say "I love you". I know that, so I will be taking that into account. However, that doesn't mean he can't be someone's love interest. When writing fanfictions, one of my main goals has always been to keep canon characters in character.<strong>

**So, like I said before, this is a rewrite of the 2006 game, replacing Rouge with my character Azure. I don't plan on focusing on Sonic or Silver unless Shadow's story crosses over with theirs, etc. Well, I hope this fanfic will turn out well. I'm putting a lot of work into it. **

**Next Chapter - The Rescue: Azure is trapped within White Acropolis with the Scepter of Darkness, so G.U.N. sends their top agent in on a rescue mission.**

**Review ~ZP**


	2. GUN's Top Agent

**Here's chapter 2. I'm really getting into my Sonic fics LOL Hope you guys like it. This is a fanfiction rewrite of the 2006 video game, replacing Rouge with my character, Azure the Dragon. There might be some errors because I just finished writing it. It's late so I can't read it over. I might do that tomorrow. **

**Once again, this fic is out of a personal opinion. I never liked Rouge and therefore, I'm placing my character with Shadow. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.**

**Review reply: **

**Queen:** Thanks. I already stated who Hope was at the beginning of the first chapter. You can easily look her up.

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure. All Sonic the Hedgehog characters, plot, etc. belong to SEGA. This fic is not associated with the Sonic the Hedgehog series.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

It was dark in the snowy White Acropolis as Shadow the Hedgehog raced across the terrain and dashed through the trees. He saw the large wall surrounding Eggman's base up ahead along with a large sealed door guarded by several robots. They opened fire on him, but Shadow easily dodged the gunfire. He slashed past, slicing several of them before jumping onto one of the robots and leaping over the sealed door with the help of his rocket skates. He easily landed on the other side as an explosion rang through the outside of the door as smoke filled the air and the orange glow of the fire lit up the sky.

He scanned the immediate area before noticing the several surveying searchlights. He took cover and hid behind some barrels as a G.U.N. transmission rang in. He held up his wrist to hear the message better.

"Transmission from G.U.N. HQ. We sent one of our agents on a recovery mission from his base. Our last communication with our agent was twenty-six hours ago. We expect an immediate rescue, Shadow the Hedgehog."

"Understood, initiating the mission now," he answered, before teleporting to the top of the building. He surveyed the area and noticed the long, narrow passageway further into the base. "If I travel deeper into base, I might be able to locate the agent."

He jumped down from the building and raced down the path, before coming across a group of robots standing in his way. "Hn, all of you against one of me? What unfair odds…for you! The Doctor could never build you to withstand my ultimate strength!"

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><p><strong>Azure's POV<strong>

I stirred and slowly opened my eyes. I rubbed my eyes to clear my vision before quickly reaching for the Scepter of Darkness. I relaxed when I felt my hands wrap around the cold metal. "Oh good, it's still here." I had taken shelter in a small cave on the side of a rocky wall for the night. Thankfully I was able to avoid Eggman's robots long enough to get some rest. And my wing was healed too! I could fly without a problem now. Guess it's just another good thing from my…heritage.

I brushed off the thought. I didn't want to dwell on that. I left that life behind. I patted the snow off me before grabbing the scepter and peeking out to see if the coast was clear. I saw the searchlight still standing, but the light had been smashed and the area was completely void of Eggman's robots.

"That's odd. Where are all the robots?" I asked to myself. It didn't seem like Eggman to not have constant patrols. And what happened to that search light? It was operational when I went to sleep. I flew over to it before noticing some debris by the base. I floated down and noticed that the debris was robot parts.

"It looks like something smashed them to pieces…but what could have done it?" I dropped the piece back on the ground before taking to the air again. "Let's see, I was going this way!" Along the way, I couldn't help but notice pieces of robots along the way. Something really destructive must have come through here. Whatever it was, I hope it's friendly.

I landed on the ground to give my wings a break. "Man everything in here looks the same. How am I supposed to even figure out where the exit is?"

"Get down!" I heard a deep voice yell and felt someone tackled me to the ground. I felt them lift me in their arms before they dropped me behind a large boulder and took off.

"What was that?" I asked myself. I slowly looked out from behind the hiding place and saw a black blur bouncing around, destroying the robots. When the last one was destroyed, the blur finally slowed down and landed on the ground. I sharply turned back around and pressed my back against the boulder. Shadow the Hedgehog…What was Shadow the Hedgehog doing here?

To say that I had a bit of a crush on him would be an understatement. He is G.U.N.'s top agent and just amazing! I had never seen him in person before now, but I had heard about everything he's done. He and Sonic stopped the ARK from colliding with the Earth, he helped Sonic defeated Metal Sonic and he single handedly defeated Black Doom and stopped the invasion of the Black Arms.

He was my idol! He may not have known it, but we were alike. The background I came from has been called evil for centuries, but I didn't want to accept that. I wanted to prove that I wasn't like my brother…that I wasn't like Garnett. That's why I joined G.U.N. I wanted to prove that my powers could be used for something other than destruction and restore honor to the Mythos name. Shadow had gone against all the odds and everything negative people said about him – even when the whole world seemed against him – and proved that he was and still is good. Ever since I first heard about him, I wanted to be just like him.

"Hey," I heard his voice right next to me. I jumped nervously when at his sudden appearance. "You're the agent?" he asked in a serious glare rivaled by his even more serious tone.

I stood up and bowed my head at him. "Yes! I-I'm Azure! I was sent to retrieve this!" I said, holding up and showing him the Scepter of Darkness.

"Whatever. I was sent here to rescue you, nothing more," he replied.

"Oh…right," I said, my ears drooping. From what I heard, Shadow was pretty mean. I didn't really get that vibe off him. He just seemed tense and rather blunt, like he was always on the clock. It was like he was always working, and never stopping for a break.

"Come on, we have to make our way out of the base," he said, racing off on his hover skates.

I flapped my wings to catch up to him and flew alongside him. "I don't think we can fly over the walls. The last time I tried that, I almost got shot down," I added nervously. _'Don't be nervous, he's not that scary.'_

"Anti-aircraft fire. Good to know. Looks like we'll have to use the door then!"

"Robots up ahead!" I cried, pointing up at a sealed door guarded by robots.

"And they're guarding our way out," Shadow added, before unleashing his homing attack at them. I barely got a shot in at a few of them with my lightning before Shadow destroyed them all.

"How do we open the door?" I asked. Shadow looked to the side of the door. I followed his line of sight and saw the terminal. "Can you hack it?" Shadow didn't even look at me when I spoke. Was I being too talkative? Was I annoying him? I felt a little insecure and held my arms, looking at the ground.

"The Doctor's encryptions are easy enough to hack into. We've got nothing to worry about," he said. He stopped typing and suddenly punched the keypad, destroying it. It shorted out and the doors opened.

"Except that…" I meekly added, seeing the large open area covered in searchlights and groups of robots.

Shadow laughed. "You give the Doctor too much credit." He held up his wrist and spoke into his transmitter. "This is agent Shadow. I have reached the drop point, awaiting vehicle drop."

"Affirmative, the drop should be arriving momentarily," responded someone from the line.

"Vehicle drop? Why do we have that?" I asked, confused.

"The anti-aircraft fire means they won't be able to pick us up where we are now. But it doesn't stop them from giving us a little help." Just as Shadow finished speaking, I could hear a loud plane fly over. I saw it drop something just as the turrets mounted along the wall opened fire on it. A few bullets bounced off the metal before the parachute opened up and it landed with a thud on the ground.

We walked over to it as Shadow examined the damage. "Hm, just a few dents. It should still run. Get in," he said, hoping into the driver's seat. I hoped into the passenger seat just as Shadow pressed his foot on the gas. He started driving on the snow before he suddenly pressed hard on the brakes. I held on tightly to my seat as we skidded to a stop by a large gorge separating us from the exit.

"Um, I don't think we're going to make that jump. I could just fly us over?" I suggested.

"You've been flying for a while already?" he asked. I nodded. "Then save your strength, we may need it later," he said, turning the wheel and driving towards a rising pathway. He ran over a couple robots in our way before coming to a stop. The path ahead us lead straight to the gorge and the end was inclined upward a bit. He wasn't going to…

"Wait a second, you're not planning on-" I cried desperately.

"Hang on!" he shouted, pressing hard on the gas pedal. The buggy shot forwards as I gripped the side of the car tightly. I couldn't help but give out a loud yell as we sailed off the path and over the gorge. We landed roughly on the other side as Shadow kept driving along the path as we came up to the exit.

"It's closing!" I cried, as the door slowly started shutting.

"Not for long!" He kept on driving towards the door. The front half of the buggy got through just as the doors shut on the back half, stopping it for a moment. "Come on!" he grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the buggy just as the door slammed shut, crushing the buggy.

I sighed and tried to catch my breath. "That was close."

"For someone who can fly, I was expecting you to be a lot calmer when we passed over the gorge," Shadow remarked.

"I'm used to flying. I'm just not used to being in a moving vehicle flying across gorges." Shadow looked ahead at the open arena-like area. "Are we almost through?" I asked.

"It appears so. But we can't let our guard down. The Doctor always has something up his sleeve." We heard a loud roar ring through the area and saw a giant robot in the shape of a dog land on the other side of the arena.

"It looks like they don't want us to leave," I said, moving a little more behind Shadow.

"Hm, let's get this over with," said Shadow, holding his arms up ready for a fight.

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><p><strong>That was a long chapter. Hope you liked it. I tried my best to incorporate the actual level's gameplay into the story.<strong>

**Next Chapter - The Egg Cerberus: Shadow and Azure face off against Eggman's Egg Cerberus. They'll have to defeat it if they have any hope of leaving the Acropolis.**

**Review! ~ZP**


	3. The Egg Cerberus

**Man did I just get a really good idea for this fic. You'll see in the next few chapters or so. There will be some changes from the game, but no real changes from the overall story. But Elise will be a Mobian, as she should have been! Design to come.**

**Review Replies: **

**pumpkin: **Thanks, glad you like it!

**Omega: **Thanks, I like them together too :3

**I3Umber: **Thank you, hehe. Yeah Umber's one of my fav. I'd be happy to hear your suggestion. You must be new to because anonymous reviewers cannot be replied to unlike signed in users with an account because you are anonymous.

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure. This fanfiction is not associated with the official Sonic the Hedgehog series owned by SEGA.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

Shadow and Azure split up as the Egg Cerberus charged towards them before regrouping behind the robot. "How do we fight that thing?" asked Azure, nervous at facing the Cerberus. She had never faced anything so big before and she wasn't sure how to approach it. Shadow was skilled and had far more experience with Eggman's robots. Surely he had a plan.

"We find it's weak point. This is where your flying comes in!" cried Shadow.

"Right!" Azure grabbed Shadow's hand and flew into the air. She was careful not to go above the walls otherwise the anti-aircraft fire would target and shoot them down. "How about the head? Isn't the head usually the weak spot?"

"It's worth a shot. But that armor covering its head looks pretty strong. I don't think I could do much damage until we get it off." Shadow scanned the arena and the Cerberus, which was currently strolling through the arena sniffing for them. As he eyed the Cerberus, he noticed the glowing rails along it's back leading to it's head along with the bright horn sticking out of it's forehead. "Get us to the ground and keep it distracted!"

She nodded her head and flew down to the ground. "Yeah, ok." Shadow jumped out from her grip when they were close enough and dashed away to the other side of the arena. "Ok, here goes," Azure said, adjusting her gauntlets. She blasted a weaker bolt of lightning at the Cerberus. It hit the Cerberus' head dead on, creating a cloud of smoke. But when the smoke cleared, there was no visible damage to its armor. The Cerberus turned its head to Azure and growled before charging over to her. Azure panicked and began flying away from the Cerberus, but it was quickly catching up to her. "Shadow!" she cried desperately.

She suddenly heard the Cerberus' heavy footsteps divert to her left, causing her to stop and turnaround. Shadow was grasping the glowing horn above on the Cerberus' head and used it to lead the robot crashing into the arena walls. Azure jumped into the air just as the Cerberus crashed and Shadow flew off the horn. She caught Shadow by his hand and stayed in the air just as the Cerberus shook it's head before strolling around the arena, looking for its prey.

"That horn is what receives communication orders to the Cerberus. If I can lead it into the wall again, I can break off the armor on its head and then it'll be finished!" said Shadow.

"Gotcha!" Azure flew over behind the Cerberus and let Shadow off just over its head.

Shadow grabbed onto the Cerberus' horn and began leading it to the wall again. It stopped and slid before hitting the wall and shook Shadow off its head but he managed to get back on with a Homing Attack. "Gr, do as I tell you!" he grunted, leading the Cerberus towards another wall, but it wouldn't fall for the same trick twice.

Azure saw this and flew alongside the Cerberus and fired another bolt of lightning just at its lower jaw, careful not to hit Shadow. The Cerberus jerked it's head, knocking Azure away as she crashed into the ground, but it gave Shadow just what he needed. While the Cerberus was distracted, Shadow was able to lead it into the wall once again, this time destroying the armor on its head for good.

Shadow landed on the ground and spotted Azure a few feet away and she wasn't moving. He dashed over to her and saw that she was unconscious. The Cerberus was recovering from the previous blow so Shadow lifted Azure up in his arms and jumping up to the upper level of the arena, his hover shoes giving him an extra lift. He leaned her up against the wall near the ledge before jumping back into the arena. The Cerberus' head suffered great damage, making Shadow's final Homing Attack the finisher. It fell to the ground as sparks were flying and smoke was coming from its body.

Azure started coming to and rubbed the back of her head, feeling a small bump from where the Cerberus had hit her. It didn't hurt too badly, only when she touched it. She saw the defeated Cerberus with its head crushed on the floor. She flew down to Shadow, who looked up when he saw her coming. "Thanks, Shadow," she said meekly.

"You still have it?" he asked.

"Um…" Azure felt around for the scepter and pulled it out of her belt from her back. "Yup, right here!"

"Good, let's go," he said. Shadow and Azure accessed the teleporter leading out of the White Acropolis and arrived in a small base-like room with a large computer system.

Azure walked up to the computer and saw the map on the screen. "Hey, that's Soleanna, the city of water. I've always wanted to go there!" She noticed Shadow walk over to a portrait of a young woman in a white dress with short red-brown hair. "Soleanna has a constitutional monarchy. That's Princess Elise III, the current monarch," added Azure.

"Why does Eggman's base lead to an old place like this?" asked Shadow suspiciously. "And why does he have a portrait of a princess?"

"I'm not sure," Azure said. "Hey Shadow, could I ask you for a favor?" Shadow simply crossed his arms and said nothing. "Well, I was wondering if you could escort me to the rendezvous point so I can pass along the Scepter of Darkness. It's just I'm worried I might run into more of Eggman's robots and I'm nowhere near as good at fighting them as you are."

"Where's the rendezvous point?" Shadow asked.

"It's over there in Kingdom Valley where they old castle used to be," she said, pointing to a patch of land off in east from the main city.

Shadow looked at the map before turning back to Azure. "All right then, I'll take you there," he said, walking out of the room towards the hallway that opened up into the Castle Town section of Soleanna.

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><p><strong>Well, I hope you liked that chapter, I'm working on more! I hope to update the Black Knight fic soon too. ;)<strong>

**Next Chapter - The Demon Released: Shadow escorts Azure to Kingdom Valley to hand over the Scepter of Darkness to G.U.N. and finish her mission, but they meet some unwelcome resistance.**

**Review! ZP**


	4. The Demon Released

**This chapter's a little short, so I figured I'd give it to you guys early...because the next chapter is way more awesome XD THanks for the reviews, favs and alerts!**

**Review replies: **

**I3Umber: **Thank you. I actually do have a love interest for Umber already. Yeah, but you see, because you're anonymous, you won't be able to send me private messages and I can only reply to you through chapter updates. I highly suggest getting an account if you want to be more active. Plus, I can't guarantee that it's the same person. Someone could very well just type in "I3Umber" when they review.

**Omega: **Thanks, not sure about that...

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure the Dragon. All official Sonic the Hedgehog characters, plot, etc. belongs to SEGA.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

Shadow and Azure walked out into the streets of Castle Town. "Wow, this place is amazing! It's so beautiful here!"

Shadow walked over to a black and red motorcycle parked on the curb a few feet away. He got on and started the engine. "Get on," he said, not even looking behind him at Azure. She got on the motorcycle behind him and held onto his waist as it jumped forward, racing through the streets. She couldn't help but blush at their closeness.

"Hey Shadow, I don't mean to be nosy, but how come you have a bike? I mean, can't you run as fast as Sonic the Hedgehog?" she asked.

"Technically my hover skates let me reach the same speed as Sonic. Without them, I'd only run at the speed of an average hedgehog. Vehicles are standard issue to G.U.N. agents for transportation and I like having a bike."

"Well it's a cool bike," she said with a smile.

Shadow drove through the streets and reached the gateway leading to the surrounding forest. They traveled across the bridge into the open area of the forest to a large shrine overlooking the distant remains of a castle. Shadow parked his bike before the both dismounted and walked up the steps of the shrine.

"Wow, that's some castle," Azure said, taking in the view. "Doesn't look like there's any way to get there on foot. I guess we'll have to fly over?" she asked, holding out her hand for Shadow. Without any emotion, he took it and she carried them both over to the remains of the castle's main entrance. "I remember reading about something that happened in the castle. There was some kind of accident that destroyed most of the building."

"Accident?" asked Shadow.

"Yeah, I think the king and his scientists was working on some top secret experiment. What was it called again?" she asked, scratching her head.

"The Solaris Project." Shadow and Azure looked up into the sky and saw a large carrier hovering towards them. "It was an ambitious project named after their eternal sun god."

"Dr. Eggman!" cried Azure, recognizing him, as he got closer.

"Azure the Dragon I believe, one of G.U.N.'s latest lackeys. And of course, Shadow. Now if you'd be so kind as to hand back the Scepter of Darkness you took from me." Eggman waved his hand a several of his robot sentries landed, forming a circle around Shadow and Azure. One fired a rocket towards them, but Shadow dodged to the side and Azure took to the air. She held onto the scepter, determined not to let Eggman get his hands on it. However, she didn't see Eggman zoom up behind her and got struck by one of the arms on his carrier.

"Ah!" she cried as the arm hit her. She lost her altitude and dropped the scepter as they both began hurling towards the ground. Shadow, after destroying a few robots with a Homing Attack and Chaos Spear, saw her falling and raced across the courtyard, catching Azure just before she hit the ground.

"No!" cried Eggman as the scepter fell the ground with a shattering sound. A dark purple energy emerged from the scepter, causing all the robots to short circuit. Shadow and Azure got back up on their feet just as he went to retrieve the scepter.

All of a sudden, a black mist began flowing out of the scepter. "Shadow, look out!" Shadow jumped back as the mist shot out of the scepter and circled the courtyard.

"It's no use, pull back!" Eggman shouted, piloting his carrier away. The dark mist destroyed all the robots before rising into the air and crashing down towards Shadow. He jumped back again just as the mist sunk into the ground. The mist began resurfacing, now much thicker as Shadow's shadow was suddenly absorbed into it. A figure rose from the mist bearing an identical resemblance to Shadow, except with darker navy colors.

"He-he looks just like you," said Azure.

The figure reared its head back and laughed. "Oh how ironic fate can be! I would never have believed I'd be resurrected through your shade. I thank you, Shadow the Hedgehog," it said with a bow.

"How is he talking without a mouth?" whispered Azure.

"Who are you and how do you know me?" asked Shadow, suspicious.

His arms fell limp and he slowly began walking towards them. "I am Mephiles, Mephiles the Dark. What? Have you forgotten me already? I'm hurt. It has only been ten years Shadow the Hedgehog."

"Shadow, I don't like this. He's creepy," whispered Azure, clearly made uncomfortable by Mephiles' presence. As Mephiles got closer, she inched towards Shadow more.

"I owe you much, Shadow." Mephiles lifted up his arm causing Shadow to jump back with Azure. A dark purple orb formed in his hand. "What you gave to me, I now return to you!" Mephiles held up his hand high in the air as the orb grew to surround them all. Shadow and Azure were caught off guard by Mephiles' power and struggled, trying to get away. However, it proved in vain and soon all three disappeared, leaving the courtyard in Kingdom Valley empty.

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><p><strong>It was short, but you got it earlier. In Sonic Universe #23, Amy asked Shadow why he had a bike, to which he replied that each G.U.N. team is required at least one vehicle for transport and he "really likes that bike." He even paints and maintain it himself, according to Rouge. What's wrong with Shadow have a bike? Why can't he have nice things? He deserves to!<strong>

**Next Chapter - A Ruined Future: Shadow and Azure arrive 200 years in the future, but more than familiar faces await them!**

**Review! ZP**


	5. A Ruined Future

**It's only been a week, but I couldn't wait to post this chapter. *W* As for Tales of Knighthood, I've hit a bit of a road bump (sad because it's only three chapters in), but I hope to come up with something soon. Thanks for all the reviews, favs and alerts. Big surprise in this chapter *^***

**Before I forget, I'm happy to announce that Elise WILL BE A MOBIAN! THE WAY IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN!**

**Review Replies: **

**MCR: **Thanks! I'm kinda stuck on that one right now, but I hope to have something come up.

**Red: **Thanks. Hm...I might end up doing a Sonic next gen. And yeah, a dragon-hedgehog would be pretty awesome -3-

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog (series), only Azure and other mentioned OCs. Sonic the Hedgehog is property of SEGA.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

A dark portal opened up inside a wrecked building as Shadow and Azure fell from it. Shadow landed on his feet while Azure hadn't anticipated the sudden landing and fell on her butt. "Ow…" she groaned, standing up while rubbing her behind. They looked out the broken window and saw the sky filled with thick and dark clouds while ruined buildings and skyscrapers were barely standing.

"What is this place?" she asked, turning to Shadow, completely unsure of what was happening.

"Perhaps we've been teleported to another location," said Shadow, scanning the area.

"Let's find out then…Um, how exactly do we do that?" she asked, rubbing the back of her head nervously. Shadow didn't answer and instead began walking off. "Hey, wait for me!" she cried, following after him.

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><p>"Hm, right on time," said a deep female voice. She had light blue skin and dark hair with bright green streaks. She wore a long black trench coat with bright green-blue lining, an orange scarf and had a rifle and old looking cane with a concealed blade strapped to her back. She was looking through binoculars into the broken window of a faraway building where a dark purple portal had just opened up and a black and red hedgehog and blue dragon had just fallen out.<p>

"That's how time travel works doesn't it?" asked a tall dark brown dog. He had black goggles on his head and wore a full leather suit. He had a combat knife strapped to his boot, two guns securely placed in holsters around his waist and three large spikes of fur sticking out from his forehead. "I'm surprised you still remembered when they'd get here after 200 years."

"It was too important to forget, Umber," she replied, putting away the binoculars. She pulled out a cigarette and a lighter before lighting the cigarette and breathing in the tobacco. The lighter she had was one of her most treasure possessions, along with the cane, and had a bright red spiked spiral insignia.

"I really wish you'd stop smoking, Z," Umber said, pinching his nose.

"We're Mythsetians, Umber. A couple cigarettes isn't going to shave a few years off my lifespan," she replied.

"It's not that. It's just the smoke really gets to me. Heightened smell remember?"

"Right, sorry big bro," she said, putting out the cigarette and crushing it with her shoe. "What's everyone's status?"

"Kabuto and Kuwaga are performing a routine search of the city for any lingering citizens and Kit and Ezo ran into a herd of Biters so Tai and Momo are meeting up with them to help out," Umber said, looking at his PDA.

"Have you heard from Silver and Blaze yet?"

"No, but one of our cameras in area G2 is still functional and it managed to catch them defeating the latest incarnation of Iblis. After that, they left with this black hedgehog."

"Black hedgehog?" Z asked, confused.

"I tried zooming in, but the lens was damaged. I couldn't get a clear image of him. I haven't been able to get in contact with either of them since."

"If they defeated Iblis, then he should be coming back again soon."

"In the volcano right?" asked Umber.

"Yes. Shadow and I will find the green Chaos Emerald deeper into Crisis City before rendezvousing with Sonic, Tails and Knuckles and heading to Flame Volcano for the cyan Chaos Emerald," Z explained, pointing to the volcano in the distance.

"Why do you keep doing this Z? You've given up everything for Shadow and the guy hasn't even treated you the way he should!" yelled Umber.

"It's the same with you and Raph! When you love someone, you'd do anything to save them; you'd even disregard your own safety! You still wear your old wedding ring," she said, pointing to the ring on his fourth finger on his left hand.

Umber looked at the ring and smiled. "Mythsetians don't believe in 'til death do us part'."

"Shadow may not have been the most emotional guy, but I will never stop loving him. He may have never said that he loves me, but I was just happy being around him. I don't need reminding," she said, narrowing her eyes at Umber.

"Then why don't you remind **me**?" he asked.

Z sighed and began speaking. "When Iblis was released, the entire continent was swallowed in his flames. Garnett tried to absorb Iblis to take his power, but was destroyed in the process along with Pine. Sapphire and Shamrock had to leave to another continent because of the harsh living conditions' effects on them, Sepia, Ghost and Payne lead a small group of survivors and the world turned on Shadow, blaming him for Iblis' destruction. I swore I would remain by Shadow's side and you and uncle Azreal helped me to fight off the government army that came after him. Uncle Azreal stayed behind to hold off the troops so we could get away. He-he didn't make it," she said, putting her hands on the ledge and hanging her head. "But it didn't matter in the end. We were ambushed; Shadow was captured and placed in stasis, you lost your eye and I lost my leg," she said, putting her hand on her robotic leg while looking at Umber robotic eye. "And when we tried to rescue him, an explosion caused the base to collapse and Raph died to save us. To this day, the base where they held him is still buried under rubble. There's no way to get to Shadow now without the foundation collapsing into the lava. So I don't need reminding of what we've lost. There's no guarantee that our Shadow is even still alive. So I waited; I waited until the Shadow from the past would arrive into our future. If he knows what is to come, there's a chance he can change the past and prevent this horrible world from ever coming into existence."

"It's a slim chance," remarked Umber.

"A chance is still a chance," she added. "What I always wondered is why you stayed with me even after my rescue mission got your wife killed."

"**Our** rescue mission. Not a day goes by when I don't think about Raph. But she died fighting for a just cause, and she sacrificed herself so we could continue doing so. You're my little sister, Azure. I'd never abandon you," he said with a smile.

Z ran forward and hugged Umber tightly before he returned the embrace. "Thank you, Umber."

"Don't worry about it kid. I love you," he said.

"I love you too," she replied as they pulled apart. "It's a good thing the Jackie's still around huh?"

"If she wasn't, I'd still be without an eye and you'd still be without a leg. So what's the plan now?" Umber asked.

"My past self and Shadow should just be meeting up with Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. It'll be a while before they find Omega in standby mode."

"So?"

"Omega will have been in standby mode for quite some time. He's rusty and needs maintenance before he wakes up to help Shadow fight Mephiles."

"But Omega's the one who blew off your leg in the first place! How are we going to guarantee that he won't attack Shadow like before?" asked Umber in worry.

"Before the military reprogrammed him, my past self put him in standby mode so he could help Shadow now. In order to bypass his initial protocol, they had to write a more powerful code to suppress his old one: namely the code that rewrote him to capture Shadow. After that objective was complete, the code was shut down by Omega's internal systems, sort of like a this-mission-is-completed kind of thing, and his old code was backed up. When Omega wakes up, he'll remember his most recent mission. Besides, we'll be there to keep watch. I wasn't there for the fight with Mephiles anyway, so I don't know how it turned out."

"Then let's get going," said Umber, grabbing his gear.

"Right," said Z, grabbing her gear as well.

"You know kiddo, you've really grown and matured. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks. 200 years and the end of the world will do that to you," she said with light chuckle.

* * *

><p>"I'm in," said Shadow, typing into the computer system. A window appeared on the screen, causing Azure to gasp and step back.<p>

"No way. I-it says we're still in Eggman's base on White Acropolis. But that's not possible, r-right?" she asked, unsure.

"Then it's not a matter of where we are, but when we are."

"According to this, we're 200 years ahead of our own time," Azure said, reading the database entry.

"It could be more, depending on when this database was last updated."

"But how could we have possibly gone through time? 200 years?" cried Azure.

"This Mephiles must be able to control time. His power felt very similar to my own Chaos Control."

"Hey, did you hear that?" asked Azure when she heard a faint and distant noise. Shadow nodded. "Let's check it out." They left the control room and traveled deeper into the ruins of Eggman's base.

"Where are we?" cried a young voice.

"This way," said Azure as they entered a large control room with a broken window looking into a chamber. They walked up to the window and saw a blue hedgehog, yellow fox and red echidna. "Whoa, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

The three looked up at Azure and Shadow. "Shadow!" cried the fox.

"Well, talk about being full of surprises. Who's your friend, Shadow?" asked Sonic.

"Oh, I'm Azure, Azure the Dragon. It's nice to meet you!" she said, flying down to them and shaking his hand.

"Cool, nice to meet you. I'm Sonic and this is Tails and Knuckles."

"So how did you two wind up here?" asked Knuckles.

"Perhaps we should head outside first. You guy will want to see where we are," said Shadow.

"But, we're still in Eggman's base right. It's the same room we were just in, it just looks really old," said Tails.

"Trust us on this," said Azure. Shadow and Azure led the trio outside, where they were shocked by the utter destruction of the city.

"This is the distant future, far ahead of our own timeline," explained Shadow.

"The future? Then Eggman's machine really did send us through time!" cried Tails.

"Eggman's got some nerve for dropping us here," said Sonic.

"But then how can we get back to our own time?" asked Knuckles, kicking aside a rock.

"Your guess is as good as ours," said Azure.

"I have a theory. We'll need a space-time rift, but this requires a lot of energy," started Shadow.

"I see, you mean using your Chaos Control will…" said Sonic.

"Yes, but that alone is insufficient. Chaos Control performed by a single individual will allow for free movement across space. But if two opposing forces were to perform Chaos Control separately…"

"Okay Shadow. It looks like we'll have to work together," said Sonic.

"Azure and I will head deeper into the city while you guys come up with a way to find some Chaos Emeralds. Hopefully, there will be some nearby," said Shadow.

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><p><strong>GASP! Umber? And who's Z? Like I even need to say it. Pictures on deviantART.<strong>

**Raph, Kabuto, Kuwaga, Momo, Tai, Kit and Ezo are all members of the same tribe that Azure comes from, Mythsetians - a faction of Mobians gifted in magic and extended lifespan, explaining why after 200 years, they're still alive. Raphaella is Umber's girlfriend (wife in the future timeline).**

**The lighter Z possesses has the same logo from Shadow the Hedgehog (game), since it was from him anyway. Her cane is the same as the one Azreal owned. And yeah, they both have guns. I don't see what the big deal is about bringing guns into Sonic. I mean, Eggman's robots and G.U.N. get to use guns. Even Tails' mech used them. I think Sonic, Shadow and co are entitled to the same equipment usage. Although Sonic has openly stated he'd never use guns, I would certainly like something to even the playing field. Plus they're in a fucked up future, they'd have to have some proper arms to protect themselves. **

**Next Chapter - Search for the Chaos Emeralds: Shadow and Azure travel deeper into the Iblis Biter infested Crisis City in hopes of finding a Chaos Emerald, but find something more...**

**Review! ZP**


	6. Search for the Chaos Emerald

**I know it's been a while, but since the destruction of my tablet pen at the hands, or rather, fangs of my one year old puppy, I decided to focus a bit on my fics. As usual, thanks for the reviews, favs, and alerts. **

**Review replies: **

**Red: **Thanks, haha we'll see about that. About the UmberxRaph oneshot. I don't plan on doing one since they're already together.

**Sister:** Thanks. The most common way to mess up a Shadowxoc fanfic is to actually make Shadow express more care than he normally would. My goal is to always keep him in character. ;)

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure, Z, Umber, Kit and Jackie. This fic is not associated with official Sonic the Hedgehog content owned by SEGA.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

"So how are we supposed to find a Chaos Emerald in all this rubble?" asked Azure.

"I can tap into Chaos energy so I am able to feel their presence when nearby. I can feel one coming from deeper within the city. If we travel further towards the centre, I can better locate it," said Shadow.

"Ok then, let's go," she said as they sped along the broken highway towards the inner part of the city. The street was calm until all of a sudden, three lave-like lizards suddenly jumped out of the ground and fiery birds flew up to them. "Whoa! What are those things?"

"Hm, I saw them on the database. They're called Iblis Biters and Takers. They're pretty weak so one hit should do it," said Shadow, cracking his knuckles. Shadow bounced off several Biters, easily destroying them while Azure shot lightning at the Takers.

"Shadow, I don't mean to doubt you but, how do you know we're getting close to an emerald?" asked Azure, unsure.

"Chaos Emeralds emit powerful amounts of energy that affect the life around it." Shadow lifted his arm and pointed directly at the flaming tornado swirling in a pool of lava that sat in the middle of the city. "That tornado has been spinning ever since we got here, perhaps even long before that. I'm willing to bet that there's a Chaos Emerald in the eye of that tornado."

"O-okay, but how do we get there?" she asked. Shadow simply stared at her, cocking his eyebrow. "Wait, you want me to fly us there?" she cried.

"That's the plan," replied Shadow, crossing his arms.

"But it's a tornado! A tornado on fire, I might add. And it's throwing cars!" she cried, pointing out the large pieces of debris flying out of the tornado.

"We fly at a higher altitude. It's the only way to safely approach the tornado. We avoid the debris and enter the eye of the tornado."

"Um, I don't know if I can do this. But I guess it's our only way of getting home. The hot air should help us reach a higher altitude." Azure took Shadow's hands in hers and they took off towards the tornado.

"Whoa, careful," said Shadow as they got closer to the tornado. "The Emerald is giving that tornado a massive increase in heat energy."

"And if we get to close, we'll get swept up in the vortex, not to mention get fried," added Azure.

"That too. We've only got one shot at this and we have to make it quick. It's now or never!" Shadow shouted.

"R-right!" Azure didn't dare to hesitate Shadow's order. She flew directly over the eye of the tornado and began descending into the swirling vortex.

"There!" cried Shadow, pointing down to a faint green glow. He let go of Azure's hand and ran along the floating debris to get to the Emerald.

"Shadow! Wait for me!" she cried, flying after him.

Shadow landed on a platform where the Emerald floated and held it in his hand. He stared into the gem, feeling a sense of familiarity with the green Chaos Emerald. After all, it was the first emerald he ever had and the one he used the most. It was his theft of it that got Sonic in a lot of trouble. The debris beneath his feet suddenly collapsed and Shadow fell through, falling towards the lava below. He looked up and saw Azure diving towards him, with her arms outstretched. "Azure!" he cried, holding out his other arm.

"I'm coming Shadow!" she shouted back, flapping her wings even harder.

Azure was almost within his reach. "Chaos…" Azure pushed forward just enough to grab onto Shadow's hand. "…Control!" shouted Shadow. The Chaos Emerald emitted a bright, blinding glow as Shadow and Azure suddenly disappeared from within the tornado and reappeared back on the crumbling road of the city.

Azure landed on top of Shadow with a loud thud. She propped herself on her arms and quickly got off Shadow. "Sorry about that…" she said, turning her face away nervously while stroking her hair.

"Sonic, come in," Shadow said, speaking into his communicator.

"This is Tails, Shadow. We read you," replied Tails on the other end.

"We've acquired a Chaos Emerald from the center of the city. Do you have any new information?"

"Well, I managed to pick up some high energy readings from a volcano on the outskirts of the city. The three of us are heading there right now."

"We'll rendezvous with you there. Shadow, out." Shadow tossed the Emerald to Azure as she stood up. "Let's go," he said, as they started walking along the road towards the volcano in the distance.

"So this is a Chaos Emerald…I'd never heard of them before I joined G.U.N. and I certainly didn't think I'd get to hold one in my hands," Azure said, staring at the Emerald.

"You've never heard of the Chaos Emeralds before?" asked Shadow, surprised. "What, have you been living under a rock?"

"Sort of…Either way, these Chaos Emeralds would be considered sacred relics where I'm from."

"And where is that?"

"Oh, it's no where anyone would know. A really small village, virtually non-existent. Hm? What's wrong Shadow?" she asked, when Shadow suddenly stopped. She followed his line of sight and saw a rusted black and red robot hunched over in the debris. "Hey, isn't that?"

"Omega…" said Shadow.

"He's your teammate along with Rouge, right?" Shadow nodded. "What's he doing here?" she asked, following Shadow as she walked over to Omega's back panel.

"It would make sense that he's still around. As a robot, he doesn't age like organic life does. According to his database, he's in standby mode. There's nothing we can do to activate him," he said, closing the panel. "Let's go, we have to get that second Emerald if we want to get back to our time." Shadow suddenly flinched when he heard a piece of debris fall over and saw a flash of light blue. He scanned the area, but didn't see any movement.

"What?"

"I thought I saw something…nevermind," he said, walking away.

"Wait, we're just going to leave him?" asked Azure.

"I don't like it either, but there's nothing we can do. Let's go," he said, leaving. Once they were out of sight, three figures stepped out.

"Jeez, blow our cover why don't you?" cried Umber.

"Give me a break, Umber. This is the first time I've even seen Shadow in over a hundred years so forgive me if I want to look at him a little longer!" Z cried back.

"You guys want me to fix Omega up or not?" asked a dusty brown jackal with short black hair and cybernetic legs, left forearm and right ear. She had a bag filled with spare parts and tools.

"Yes, please," Z and Umber said together.

"You've got to be more careful, Z! If your past self sees you, it could unravel the space time continuum!"

"I know, I know. I just…I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking straight."

Umber sighed. "No, I'm sorry. I'd probably do the same. Come on, let's give Jackie a hand."

"Oh no you don't. Anything you two do would just make it worse. I work better alone," Jackie said, working on Omega.

"All right. I'll check in with Kit. I had her follow Sonic, Tails and Knuckles to keep tabs on them," said Umber.

"Good, I'll tail Shadow and myself to the volcano and take it from there," Z said, flying off.

* * *

><p>Shadow and Azure stood along the path of hardened lava as Sonic, Tails and Knuckles caught up with them.<p>

"Getting slow, blue? We've been waiting for over ten minutes," remarked Shadow.

"I just can't catch a break with you, can I Shadow?" laughed Sonic.

"Check it out!" cried Azure, with a smile, showing them the green Chaos Emerald.

"Wow! I can't believe you guys already found one!" cried Tails, in amazement.

"Yeah, we got it from inside a flaming tornado," said Azure.

"Oh yeah, that thing threw a car at me," laughed Sonic.

"You say that like it's a good thing," said Knuckles.

"You said you discovered something?" asked Shadow.

"Yes, I picked up a high power signature like the ones the Chaos Emeralds give off. But the thing is…" started Tails looking at the volcano.

"You mean its inside the volcano?" cried Azure.

"Hey, you and Shadow got a Chaos Emerald from inside a flaming tornado. This can't be that different," said Sonic, with a thumbs up.

Azure sighed following after Sonic, Shadow, Tails and Knuckles as they ran towards the volcano.

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><p><strong>Hope you liked it. <strong>

**Next Chapter: Heat - Our heroes encounter resistance to the cyan Chaos Emerald within the volcano as they face off against Iblis Phase 2!**


	7. Into the Inferno

**Hey guys, sorry it's been a while. Been busy with ME3 and other things. That and I haven't been as motivated to write ay of my fics right now. Thanks again for all the reviews, favs and alerts. Now, I know you mean well, but please do not send me messages asking me to update. They will be ignored. Also, unless any reply to a review will be "Thank you," I will not be replying to reviews.**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure. All official Sonic characters, events and plots are property of SEGA.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

"So why don't we just fly over to the volcano?" asked Azure, flying alongside Tails and Knuckles to keep up while Sonic and Shadow ran along the solid ground below them.

"The distance and load alone would tire us out," said Tails.

"That and the volcano is spewing out chunks of rocks. The safest route is the lower one," added Sonic.

"The crust's energy is out of control," said Shadow.

"Do you think it's because of the Chaos Emerald?" asked Azure.

"It's very likely. The Chaos Emerald we found kept a spinning tornado of fire going for who knows how long," said Shadow.

"And the seismic activity the volcano's displaying is off the charts. Only a massive amount of energy could explain this activity," added Tails.

"Then we'd better hurry up-Whoa!" The path beneath Sonic's feet suddenly crumbled away, revealing the hot lava below.

"Sonic!" cried Tails. He quickly flew up to Sonic and grabbed his arm, carefully lifting Sonic back to solid ground.

"Whew, thanks Tails. That was a close one!" Sonic said, patting Tails on the back.

"The ground seems to be more unstable the closer we get. We should be more careful," said Knuckles.

"I don't think the ground is going to be much of a concern from here," said Shadow, pointing ahead to a large pool of lava. The path they followed curved right into the lava pool, leaving them at a dead end.

"Always such a pessimist, aren't you Shadow?" Sonic scanned the area ahead. "Check it out, there's a ledge across this pool. We can make it over there no problem!" With Sonic and Shadow in tow, Tails and Azure flew across the pool of lava while Knuckles glided on the rising hot air alongside them.

"All right, so where to now?" asked Knuckles.

"How about over here? This looks like a door," said Azure, walking over to a stone door with purple crystals. Shadow saw the ground beneath her suddenly light up.

"Get back!" Shadow jumped forward, grabbed Azure's arm and pulled her away just as fire spewed up from where she stood. Azure stumbled back into Shadow when he suddenly pulled her away from the fire.

"Th-thanks, Shadow," Azure stepped away from him, attempting to hide her blush.

"What was that?" cried Sonic.

"Those were the volcano's exhaust vents. I didn't expect us to encounter some this soon. They're usually much closer to the actual volcano," explained Tails.

"The Chaos Emerald must be increasing the volcano's heat output. We should keep moving," said Shadow.

"Uh, do you guys feel that?" asked Azure as the ground shook.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" said Knuckles. Several Biters suddenly shot up from the ground along with a titanic humanoid behemoth made of lava and rock.

"What is that?" cried Tails.

"It's an Iblis Golem! I saw a mention of them in the computer systems back in the city," said Shadow.

"This is gonna be fun! You know what they say: the bigger they are, the harder they fall!" laughed Sonic as he jumped into the air and dashed forward to the golem in a homing attack. The golem easily knocked Sonic to the side with its thick arm.

"Sonic!" cried Tails, rushing over to help Sonic up.

"I'm ok, Tails. Leave the big guy to me, ok?" He smiled and gave Tails a thumbs-up.

"Hm, don't get too ahead of yourself, blue. I'll take the golem," said Shadow, crossing his arms, as the golem formed a giant fireball in its hand and raised its arm, preparing to throw it.

"All right then, first one to take down the golem wins!" exclaimed Sonic.

Tails hovered over the area, staying clear from fight below; Azure flew along, shooting lighting at as many biters as she could; Knuckles punched a biter right in the jaw while Sonic and Shadow took turns striking the golem with a homing attack. The biters had been dealt with, but the golem still stood strong as if none of Sonic or Shadow's attacks even affected it.

"Huh?" Tails looked closer at the golem's head as the rock plates moved aside, exposing the core. "Sonic! The head is the weak spot!" cried Tails.

"Thanks Tails!" Sonic jumped up and rammed into the golem's head, but the plates closed just as Sonic made contact. He managed to jump away to safety before the golem swatted him away with its arm again.

"We have to get it to expose its core again!" shouted Knuckles.

"But it'll just close it up again once any of us get close!" replied Azure.

"Not quite. If we can stun it, we can slow its response time down," said Shadow.

"But with what?" asked Tails.

"Azure, the second you see its core exposed, shoot it with your lightning," said Shadow, dodging another fireball from the golem.

"Me?" cried Azure, unconfidently pointing at herself.

"It'll make contact much quicker than my Chaos Spear. It's our only shot!" Shadow reassuringly nodded his head at her.

"Ok. Just keep it busy and I'll take the shot!" she said, taking off into the air.

Sonic and Shadow danced around the golem, teasing it into an attack. It raised its arm again, forming another fireball as the rock plates covering its head moved again. Azure instantly reacted ad fired a bolt of lightning at the core, immediately paralyzing the golem. Shadow jumped up and drove a Chaos Spear right into the core before jumping off, as Sonic came up right behind him and struck the core with a homing attack. The golem crumbled into pieces, which scattered along the ground.

"Haha, I win!" cried Sonic.

"I'm the one who punctured its core," said Shadow.

"Yeah, but I finished it off," replied Sonic.

"Yeah, you're both great. Now let's keep moving!" shouted Knuckles. All of a sudden, the ground started shaking again. "Great, as if we needed more of those creatures!"

"No, this tremor feels different," said Tails. The ground beneath them suddenly gave way as all five fell into the dark chasm below. None of them were sure just how far they had fallen, but neither Azure nor Tails had enough time to react and fly when the hole suddenly split into several different paths: Sonic and Knuckles into one, Shadow and Tail in another and Azure down the final path.

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><p><strong>Hope that was enough for you guys. Sorry again for the long wait. Exams are coming up, but I'll try to get the next chapter up... as soon as I write it XD<strong>

**Next chapter - The Catacombs: The group is separated while on their way to the volcano to find the Chaos Emerald. By the time they meet up, they encounter a powerful creature guarding the emerald.**

**~ZP**


	8. Dark Caverns

**Oh, so sorry for the long wait guys. I was focusing mostly on Tales of Knighthood and once I finished that, I focused on this. Plus, I'm trying to effectively translate the levels and gameplay from the actual 2006 game into a written story format. I think I'm doing a pretty good job, but I hope you guys think so too and are enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it.**

**Thanks for all the reviews, +favorites and +alerts! It really means a lot.**

**Also, for anyone who reads my Bakugan fanfictions, those will all be on hiatus now due to lack of inspiration and also because Bakugan's kinda over now. I've moved on to other things...**

**Sonic the Hedgehog characters and plot belong to SEGA. I only own Azure and other mentioned OCs.**

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><p><strong>Azure's POV<strong>

It was dark and the air was really thin. I rubbed my aching head as I slowly sat up. What happened? The last thing I remembered was that giant Iblis Golem we took down. And then… Oh yeah! The floor gave out beneath us. I squinted my eyes, trying to see clearly in the dark, while my gauntlets provided a dim light. I couldn't see any of the others or hear any movement other than my own.

"We must have all gotten separated…" I said out loud. "Shadow! Sonic!" I hollered through the tunnel. I wasn't sure why I bothered, but it was worth a shot. "Tails, do you copy?" I asked through my communicator, but all I got was static. We must have been too far underground for our radios to work.

I guess there wasn't any point in just sitting here and waiting for them to find me. That's certainly not what Shadow would do. I took off in a light jog. It was dark enough already, even with my gauntlets giving me some light, and I didn't want to run into something.

I came out into an open cavern lit with purple crystals embedded in the rock of the wall, ceiling and even the floor. There were three different tunnel ways in front of me and two higher up in the wall near the ceiling. At least it wasn't just walking around in the dark anymore. But which way was I supposed to go? If I picked the wrong one, it might take me to a dead end or the volcano's magma might burst through and cook me alive! I didn't have time to make the wrong choice.

I cried out in frustration and kicked the wall. "Ow!" I shouted, grabbing my foot. "Shadow would know which way to go…"

All of a sudden, I felt something small hit my head. I looked up and saw a figure dash into one of the upper tunnels. "Hey wait!" I called out after them. I flew up to the upper passageways and chased after the figure. When I reached the end of the tunnel, I came into a dark chamber filled with magma and rock platforms. Hovering over a few of the platforms were these purple orbs. I quickly scanned around for the figure I was following, but saw no trace of them.

I saw a large door on the other side of the chamber and made my way over too it. "Hm, this looks a lot like the door back on the surface… Wait, then that means…" As if on cue, a few Iblis Biters burst out of the lava and landed in front of me, cornering me against the door.

The other Iblis monsters weren't much of a problem before. Then I had Shadow helping me and telling me what to do. But, now I was on my own. It's not that I've never had to fight on my own before. In fact, I've logged in quite a few hours in G.U.N.'s virtual trainer. But that wasn't virtual! This is real!

I jumped into the air to avoid one of the Biters lunging towards me and quickly shot it with a bolt of lightning. I did the same with the other Biters and they easily disintegrated.

"Hm, well that wasn't too bad," I said, crossing my arms in satisfaction as I slowly hovered towards the ground when suddenly something slammed me right into the wall. I hit the rock on my back and felt the air leave my chest. I fell onto my hands and knees coughing to try and catch my breath. My body ached from the impact, so it hurt my neck a bit to look up at what attacked me. My vision was blurry, but I could easily make out the hulking figure of an Iblis Golem. I must not have noticed it appear behind me. I had let me guard down, which I'm sure Shadow would have chastised me for.

I tried to push my body off the ground, but that hit really took a lot out of me. I rubbed my head and tried to clear my vision as the Golem raised it's arm over it's head, readying a fireball. I had to get out of the way, but I just couldn't move. I felt my eyelids getting heavier… Before my eyes completely closed, I could have sworn I saw someone take down the Golem.

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

Z walked over to Azure, now unconscious. She bent down her knees before turning Azure over onto her back. She placed her hand on Azure's head and looked at her past self longingly, as if trying to recall the memories from when she was sixteen.

Z let out a sigh filled with despair before looking at the purple orbs floating around the chamber. She pulled out her rifle and quickly fired a single shot at each orb, causing them to light up. The purple stones on the door lit up as well as the door slid open. Z lifted Azure onto her shoulder before proceeding through the door.

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><p>"So Shadow, how did you and Azure end up teaming up together?" asked Tails, as he and Shadow made it out of a tunnel and into a larger chamber.<p>

"She's a new G.U.N. agent. She got captured during a mission and I was sent to rescue her. How did you and Sonic and Knuckles end up in the future?"

"Eggman developed a machine that can control time and tested it on us. What about you?"

"Azure was sent to retrieve an item called the Scepter of Darkness. Apparently it contained some creature and it sent us here into the future."

"Wow, that's pretty bizarre, but I guess after all the stuff we've all been through, it should count as normal. So where's Rouge? Not that I don't like Azure, it's just that you're normally working with Rouge."

"Rouge is on an undercover mission. She's off the grid until further notice," Shadow replied. "Are the radios still out?"

"Unfortunately, yes. There's nothing I can do. I've tried adjusting the frequency but something is interfering with incoming and outgoing transmissions. And the interference just keeps getting stronger the closer we get to the volcano's core."

"Careful," he said, stopping Tails as they came to a large tunnel that curved downward.

"It doesn't look like a long drop," said Tails, "but with those exhaust vents along the walls, we'll have to be careful."

"Agreed," said Shadow, taking Tails hand as they slowly descended.

"Hey, did you hear that?" asked Tails.

"Hear what?"

"It sounds like something's… digging." Suddenly, Knuckles burst through the wall followed by Sonic. Knuckles managed to dig his claws into the wall while Sonic grabbed onto his tail.

"Ow, watch it!" Knuckles shouted.

"Sorry about that, Knuckles," laughed Sonic.

"Sonic! Knuckles! Thank goodness you guys are ok!" cried Tails in relief.

"Tails! Glad you're safe. And Shadow, no surprise you're still kicking," remarked Sonic with a grin.

"Was there ever any doubt? You guys seen Azure?" he asked.

"No, we were actually hoping to find you all together," said Knuckles, climbing down the wall with Sonic on his back while Tails carried Shadow.

"I'm sure she'll turn up Shadow, don't worry," said Sonic.

"I wasn't," Shadow remarked, narrowing his eyes at Sonic.

They landed on a small circular platform at the base of the downward tunnel. Lava and rock walls surrounded them like every other part in the underground tunnels. A path led to an opening into a dark cave.

"I can feel the Chaos Emerald; it's near," said Shadow.

"Well, it's gotta be that way. Not like there's anywhere else we can go," said Sonic.

"But what about Azure? There's still no sign of her," said Tails.

Suddenly, they heard a loud screech coming from above. "Up there!" cried Knuckles, pointing with his claws. Azure glided out of one of the tunnels in the ceiling followed by two Takers closing in on her fast. She quickly turned around in mid-flight and shot the Takers with a bolt of lightning, easily disintegrating.

"Azure!" shouted Shadow.

She turned when she heard her name called and spotted the rest of them on the platform below. "Shadow! I'm so glad you're ok!" she cried, hugging him. She quickly pulled away when she remembered that Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were also present. "I mean, not that you don't know how to take care of yourself. I was just… worried, that's all," she laughed, nervously. "And you found the others! Why didn't you guys take me with you?" she asked in confusion.

"What do you mean?" asked Sonic.

"Didn't one of you save me from an Iblis Golem?"

"We haven't encountered any," said Knuckles.

"Oh, I must have been imagining it then… So which way is the Chaos Emerald?" she asked, desperately trying to change the subject while hiding the blush that formed on her cheeks.

"Shadow says it's in there," Tails replied, pointing to the dark tunnel.

"Well let's go and get it then. I don't know about you guys, but I've had just about enough of this place!" said Sonic with a grin as they all walked into the dark tunnel towards the Chaos Emerald and what they hoped would be no trouble.

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><p><strong>Hope you guys enjoyed that. I really tried my best to write out the second half of the Flame Core level in a story format. I didn't want to feature Z in too much, but let's just say that she helped get Azure along the right path to the others. Believe me, this is not the last you will see of Z and future Umber. <strong>

**Next Chapter - God of Fire: While the cyan Chaos Emerald seems to be within reach, our heroes must face the dreadful creature that guards it if they have any hope of returning home.**

**~ZP**


	9. The False God of Fire

**Hm, no reviews for the last chapter. Whatever, I just hope you guys are enjoying it. Thanks for all the favs and alerts though.**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

The group entered the large cavern beneath the surface where the volcano raged. One Chaos Emerald had come with little to no trouble, but it seemed the second would come with even less of a struggle, at least they hoped it would. As they exited the dark tunnel that provided them entry, the found that their path ended and were met with a large pool of magma in the chamber. A light blue glow shone from beyond their footing, only inches away.

"There is it," said Tails, pointing to the cyan Chaos Emerald.

"I'll get it," said Azure, flying over to the Emerald.

As she reached out with her hand to grasp the Emerald, Shadow noticed the bubbles brewing just below her. He narrowed his eyes as the bubbles got louder and more frenzied. His eyes widened in shock as he stepped forward. "Don't touch it!" he shouted.

"Huh?" Azure turned to look at Shadow in confusion, almost touching the Emerald. All of a sudden, she felt an enormous heat envelop her. "Ah!" She pushed her wings as hard as she could to get away from the fire swirling up from the magma below and around the Emerald. Her dragon skin protected her from the intense flames, but they did singe her clothes. In her haste, she roughly fell back onto the slab just as Shadow ran out in front of her with his arms ready for a fight. "What is that thing?" she cried out as Sonic and Tails helped her back into her feet.

"Yeah, now we're talking! This is gonna be fun!" exclaimed Sonic.

"He's kidding right?" asked Azure in shock and fear.

"Unfortunately no. The bigger they are, the most excited he gets," said Tails.

"Whatever it is, it's going down. We need that Chaos Emerald if we want to get back to our time. The rest of you stay back. We'll handle this," said Shadow.

"Are you crazy?" cried Knuckles, as the fire worm dove back into the magma and resurfaced several feet away. "As good as the two of you are when you're working together, the last time I checked, neither of you are exactly fire proof."

"Knuckles is right. You won't be able to do much damage if you can't even get to him," added Tails.

"Any ideas, Tails?" Sonic asked.

"Well, Azure and I can provide air support and get you close enough for an attack. You and Shadow are the only ones who can't fly, so you're at a disadvantage."

"It's our best shot," added Knuckles.

"It's not what I normally prefer, but we don't have much of a choice," said Shadow.

"All right, let's do it! We're counting on you two to get us in close!" said Sonic, giving Tails a thumbs up.

"You up for this?" Shadow asked Azure.

Azure looked at him and hesitated to answer. Never in a million years had she thought she'd be fighting a giant fire snake in a cavern filled with magma. If there was one thing that she knew about herself, it was that she couldn't gather the courage to face such a ferocious and powerful creature. But something was different now. It was the way Shadow looked at her, which wasn't all too different from how he looked in general. Maybe it wasn't necessarily the way Shadow looked at her, but rather the feeling she got when she looked at him. Whenever Azure looked at Shadow, she felt so full of ambition and strength, like she could do anything. Perhaps being around a person capable of such bravery and power instilled the same feeling in her. Azure pushed all her hesitant and fearful feelings to the back of her mind and answered with a determined nod, "Absolutely."

"Incoming!" shouted Tails, as the worm launched a rain of flaming boulders towards them. They took to the air – Tails carrying Sonic and Azure carrying Shadow – and hovered high above the worm as it let out a piercing roar.

"Let's get it while it's distracted!" cried Sonic. Tails, Azure and Knuckles swooped towards the worm.

As they got closer, Shadow narrowed his eyes as he spotted a bright green spot on the worm's head. "Look! There, on it's head: that green eye."

"What about it?" asked Azure.

"It's not as heavily armored like the rest of its body and it's brightly colored. It could be the weak spot," Shadow said, pointing to the bright green eye on the worm's forehead.

"It's worth a shot! Get us in as close as you can," said Sonic. Tails and Azure flew in just close enough for Sonic and Shadow to launch a homing attack directly at the worm's green eye. They jumped off just as Tails and Azure flew back around to pick them up. The worm roared out and dove into the magma. It swam around with its head barely poking out of the surface.

"Damn it, that thing's smarter than we give it credit for," said Shadow, holding Azure's hand tightly as they hovered over the pool of magma.

"It's learning. So long as it stays submerged, we can't get to it without getting too close to the magma. We have to find a way to draw it out long enough to hit it again," said Tails, spinning his two tails while holding onto Sonic tightly.

"But how are we supposed to do that?" asked Knuckles, as they landed on a high platform over the magma. They watched as the worm swam through the magma, sinking beneath the surface a few times, only leaving its eyes and horn exposed.

Azure scanned the area along with the others, in hopes of finding something to get the worm's attention. All of a sudden, Azure spotted floating purple spheres a few feet away from the worm on a few wayward platforms. "Over there!" she cried, pointing to them.

"I'm not sure purple balls are gonna help us, Azure," said Sonic. "Nice try though," he said, patting her back.

"No, when you touch those, they light up. Before I met up with you guys, I got stuck in this dark room and they lit up when I touched them. We can use them to get its attention and Sonic and Shadow can finish it off!"

"Haha, I like it! Nice going, kid!" Sonic exclaimed, slapping Azure on the back a little harder than he intended.

She coughed slightly and regained her balance before rubbing her arm nervously, "Uh, thanks."

"Knuckles, think you can get the light show working?" asked Sonic.

"I'm on it," Knuckles replied, punching his fist confidently.

"Get the orbs lit and get out of there fast. Sonic and I can take it from there," said Shadow.

Knuckles leapt off the ledge towards the platforms with the purple orbs. He punched the orbs and they lit up with a bright purple-pink light. Knuckles climbed up the wall that joined to the platform and glided to a safe distance just as the worm dove out of the magma towards the lights. The horns on its head worked against it as its head got stuck tight in the platform with the rest of it's body sticking of the magma. It waved its tail frantically, trying to break free from the platform, but it was no use.

"Now!" cried Sonic. Azure and Tails dove towards the worm's head as Sonic and Shadow leapt forward in a double homing attack, hitting the worm's green eye dead center, shattering the green eye into pieces. The worm reared its head back in pain, breaking free of the platform just as Azure and Tails returned to pick Sonic and Shadow up again. It cried out in pain before falling into the magma with a loud _flop_.

They regrouped at a higher ledge and waited a few seconds after the entire body sank into the magma. "D-did you get it? Is it dead?" asked Tails.

"I hope so," said Sonic, narrowing his eyes at the magma, as if he were waiting for the worm to jump out very much alive. His suspicions were put to rest when the cyan Chaos Emerald floated out of the magma and towards them. "All right! The Chaos Emerald, now we can get back to our own time… Right?" he asked, turning to Shadow.

"If my theory is correct, it should work," he said, pulling out his green Chaos Emerald. "You ready?"

"I was born ready, Shadow," said Sonic.

They stepped forward, facing each other before holding out their hands with the Chaos Emeralds and shouted in unison, "Chaos control!" Nothing happened for a few seconds before a blue and white swirling portal appeared beside them.

"It worked!" exclaimed Azure.

"All right, let's go guys!" cried Sonic, as he jumped into the portal followed by Tails and Knuckles.

Azure was the next to go. She hovered in front of the portal and turned to look at Shadow before flying in, not taking her eyes off him. Shadow was about to follow her when he heard something behind him. He turned his head sharply and saw a thick inky smoke alongside a small flame. The smoke disappeared as Mephiles suddenly formed from the smoke, turning his head to Shadow and giving him an eerie look.

In this mild distraction, Shadow felt the Chaos Emerald slip from his hands and fall into the portal. "Damn it," he whispered, trying to reach out and grab the Emerald. He looked at the portal and back at Mephiles before dashing off to pursue the creature as the portal closed behind him.

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><p>A blue and white swirling portal opened in the New City of Soleanna. Azure fell out of the portal and landed on the pavement on her stomach while a green Chaos Emerald bounced to a stop beside her. "Ow…" Azure groaned and picked herself up off the pavement, dusting herself off. She saw the Chaos Emerald from the corner of her eye and dashed over to it.<p>

"The Chaos Emerald? But I thought Shadow had that." She turned to look at the portal, waiting for Shadow to appear, but it simply closed up and disappeared. She quickly pressed into the communicator in her ear. "Shadow? Shadow? Come in! Can you hear me?" she asked frantically. "I'm not picking anything up. Even if Shadow came out somewhere else, I should still be able to reach him. Oh no, what if he's still stuck in the future? But why didn't he come back with us?" she cried, her face in shock. She paced back and forth, grasping her head while trying to calm herself down and think.

"I have to help him! But he's 200 years in the future! I can't just wait around. Shadow needs help now!" Azure cried, grabbing her head frantically. "Wait! Omega!" she cried, remembering when she and Shadow spotted the inactive robot in the future. "That's it! He can get to Shadow now and help." She pressed into her communicator and patched into GUN HQ.

"Hello? This is agent Azure."

"Agent Azure, this is GUN HQ. We read you," replied an agent.

"I need to get in contact with E-123 Omega immediately!" she cried. Normally, Azure wasn't this forceful, but the matter was urgent.

"Roger that. Omega is currently available and near your location. We'll send orders and have him meet you at a rendezvous point in the forest just off from your location."

"Thank you, Azure out." With as much strength she could summon in her wings, she made a b-line for the Soleanna forest with the green Chaos Emerald wrapped tightly in her grip. As she got closer to the lake within the forest, she spotted something bright red and flew down to get closer. Once she saw that it was Omega, she landed as quickly as she could, almost tripping as she got to the ground.

"Omega!" she cried, panting in exhaustion.

Omega turned to face her. "Agent Azure the Dragon," he said.

"Y-you know me?" she asked, surprised.

"Affirmative. I have reviewed your files. You can generate and expel lightning and electrical energy. I look forward to seeing you destroy things," he said.

"Oh um, thanks! But that can wait! Shadow needs your help!"

"Shadow? What is the situation?"

"Well, the Scepter of Darkness I was sent to retrieve from Eggman's base contained some dark entity that sent Shadow and I 200 years into the future. We managed to find a way to make it back, but I don't think Shadow made it. I think he's still stuck in the future."

"Situation understood. What would you like me to do?"

"I need you to take this Chaos Emerald and wait until the future becomes the present. I'm worried Shadow might run into Mephiles again and he'll need a Chaos Emerald. You're the only one who can do this Omega," she said, pleading, holding out the Chaos Emerald.

Omega reached out and took the Emerald, placing it inside a compartment in his body. "System reactivation countdown initiated. Backup source and spare magazines secured. Command priority changed. New mission: Shadow support. External access no longer permitted."

"Thank you, Omega. I'm counting on you!" Azure said with a smile. Omega turned and said nothing before walking away, presumably to shut down. "…I wonder what kind of magazines Omega reads…"

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><p><strong>This is one of the reasons I found translating a video game into fanfiction content. Namely, turning gameplay content into a well written story format. I think I did a pretty good job though and I hope you guys liked it.<strong>

**I'm trying to wrap up this fic as quickly as I can right now because I have two sequels planned and a crossover comic set after that. The prospective release date for the comic is Fall-Winter of 2013, so both I and my partner Zacnichols123 are hoping to finish up our fanfics and start the comic to release it on time.**


	10. Help from a Friend

**I think this is by far my favorite chapter in the story. Probably because I had it written up a while ago and I just get excited when I read it. So I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**I do urge you to review on any aspect of the story. Reviews make me happy and more motivated to post. Thanks for the favs and alerts too.**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure, Z and Umber.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

Shadow raced after Mephiles back towards where he and Sonic had previously defeated Iblis. The demon was fast, almost inhumanely fast and Shadow almost lost sight of him. He kept going in hopes of catching up with Mephiles, but he came to a dead end: a large circular platform floating in the lava that cascaded down from a nearby magma fall. He looked around, but saw Mephiles nowhere in sight. What was he to do now? He had no Chaos Emerald and no way to get home. He gave up his only chance to get back to his own time to follow his guts. But then again, his gut had misled him once before…

"So, decided to void you return ticket now, did you?" Shadow looked up and as Mephiles perched on a purple sphere-shaped crystal wrapped in hardened magma.

"Why are you here, Mephiles? Are you the one who ruined this world?" asked Shadow, pointing his finger at Mephiles in accusation.

"The answer is yes and no. Perhaps it would be better if I were to show you," Mephiles said, snapping his fingers. An illusion suddenly appeared, showing an unconscious figure encased in some type of capsule. Shadow's eyes widened slightly before he took a step back in disbelief.

"Yes, that's you," said Mephiles, answering the question that Shadow hadn't even asked yet. "After the world was devastated by Iblis' flames, what do you think happened? A search for the guilty. Who did this you may ask? Humanity wasn't just jealous of your power. They feared it. They used Iblis' destruction as a reason to justify their choice of hunting you down. Many turned their backs on you Shadow, and the few that remained loyal to you were cut down in battle for trying to help you. Even your little friend Azure," he laughed. "She didn't last long." Shadow turned his head away from Mephiles and the apparition, keeping his eyesight locked with the ground. "Come with me, Shadow. Let us punish this foolish world of humanity. It is only fair to give them everything they deserve for what they've done to you. You have every right to want justice and revenge," he said, clenching his first.

"That's absurd," Shadow said, looking at Mephiles. "Whatever it is you want to do, you can do it alone."

Mephiles remained quiet, taken aback though he didn't physically show it. "You forgive humanity this folly then? This betrayal?" he asked, motioning his hand towards the apparition. "What they did… What they will do-"

"I determine my own destiny," Shadow said, clenching his first tightly before giving Mephiles a determined look.

Mephiles said nothing. He quickly waved his arms and his body transformed into dark blue crystal with blue highlights. His sclera was now red and his eyes and bright green with slits. A dark misty aura was emanating from his body. Shadow held up his arms, ready to fight Mephiles, but remained cautious. At their first meeting, Mephiles had surprised him with his time travel power. Shadow didn't want to get surprised again.

"Such foolishness...very well, let's see if you can entertain me!" Mephiles waved his arms as hundreds of little minions similar to his appearance flooded into the area, surrounding him.

"Don't bother to try and deceive me. I know who I am!" yelled Shadow.

"Hahaha, I have no doubts about that Shadow. I am simply telling you what awaits you in this future. I had hoped to persuade you with my words, that you would see the truth. But it seems I will have to resort to…harsher methods." Shadow looked down to the ground when he heard Mephiles voice coming from there and was shocked to see Mephiles where his own shadow should be.

"Playing hide and seek? What a coward," spat Shadow.

"Not hiding, merely tactical observation," remarked Mephiles.

"Hmph, you'll have to come out of there sometime. Until then, I'll just have some fun with your little minions!" Shadow dashed across the floor, Mephiles closely following behind, as Shadow jumped from little minion to minion, easily destroying it. But no matter how many he closed in on, several of them would hover a few feet away. A few times they tried to pile on Shadow, but he easily kicked them away with a roundhouse kick.

"It doesn't matter how many of them you defeat, you know," taunted Mephiles.

"We'll see about that!" shouted Shadow, destroying more minions. _'These shadows he's controlling, I've got figure out their origin before I can think of how to attack Mephiles,'_ he thought.

"I'm your shadow, you can't even touch me!" said Mephiles with a demeaning laugh.

"I wouldn't count on that. Chaos Boost!" Shadow suddenly released a powerful amount of energy and began glowing a bright red hue.

"What! Shadow! How did you...!" cried Mephiles, as he was suddenly forced out into his physical form.

"You shouldn't underestimate me, Mephiles. I am the Ultimate Lifeform!" declared Shadow, moving in for a homing attack on Mephiles.

Mephiles held up his arms and formed a small shield, blocking Shadow's attack. "Dance my shadows, dance!" he cried, quickly dashing across to the other side of the platform. Without hesitation, Shadow quickly dashed over for another homing attack, catching Mephiles just before he could put up his shield again and landed a direct attack on him.

"Argh!" he cried, quickly moving away. "Take this!" Mephiles held his arms up, summoning a large sphere of dark purple energy. Shadow raced up to Mephiles and attacked him right before he could release the ball, which disappeared as a result of Shadow's sudden attack. Shadow kicked Mephiles away and he landed roughly on the ground. Mephiles slowly got up on his hands and knees, breathing heavily.

Seeing Mephiles defeated, Shadow slowly began walking over to him. However, Mephiles suddenly stood up and shot an energy ball at Shadow. It struck him right in the chest and knocked him back into one of the many pillars like the one Mephiles was standing on earlier. The impact knocked the air out of his chest and paralyzed him for a moment. He fell back tot he ground on his knee, trying to catch his breath. Mephiles slowly began making his way towards Shadow, when bullets were suddenly fired at the space remaining between them, stopping Mephiles in his track, though he did not flinch. They looked in the direction of fire and saw a large red, black and grey robot with its gun at the ready.

"Omega!" cried Shadow, relieved and surprised at the same time. They had just found Omega a while ago, what were the chances he would come out of standby mode in time?

"Now is the designated time, I shall assist Shadow," Omega said.

"Heh, numbers won't help you now!" cried Mephiles.

"Omega, what are you doing here?" asked Shadow, as Omega joined him in the fight, blasting away Mephiles' minions.

"Azure asked me to help you. I waited in standby mode until the future became the present."

"Well, your timing couldn't have been any better. Glad to know I still have some friends in this future."

"Your firearms won't have any effect on me, robot. There's no hope for you!" cried Mephiles.

"You are incorrect. Prior to coming out of standby mode, my armor and equipment had been upgraded. I am more than capable of destroying you!" Omega changed his hands to cannons and several other weapons emerged from his body. Unleashing them all at once without hesitation, Omega opened fire on Mephiles, knocking him back. He slowly got up on his hands and knees and stumbled while trying to stand up and regain his balance.

"That's enough!" Mephiles waved his hands and dark crystals suddenly began sprouting out of the ground around Omega and Shadow at an alarming rate. The crystals quickly spread over their bodies, wrapping around their arms and legs, restraining them. "There's no point in trying to escape, those crystals will keep you in place long after I am finished. Perhaps I could simply leave you both here while I continue my work. It would certainly help my goals if you weren't getting in my way. But why deprive myself of the joy of destroying you?" he asked himself, floating over to Mephiles. "I think I'll start with you, machine."

All of a sudden, Mephiles cried out and jumped back. A combat knife was sticking out of his head. He grasped the handle tightly before pulling it out. "Who-!"

Mephiles didn't have time to finish his question when a tall dark brown dog in a full leather suit jumped down and kicked Mephiles away while catching the combat knife and securing it in a holster on his boots. The dog then pulled out two twin pistols and aimed them at Mephiles. "It's over Mephiles!" he shouted.

"Ah...Umber Mythos. Impressive that you're still alive," laughed Mephiles, waving his arms and summoning his hoards of shadows. "And you finally figured out who I am."

Umber sheathed his guns and waved his hands, dispelling the shadows. "You're not the only one who can control the darkness, Mephiles! And we do our research! You may have hidden yourself well, but there's always a trail of breadcrumbs." Umber reached for his guns again and began opening fire on Mephiles. "You think Omega's upgraded rounds hurt? Well these were specially designed for me by my brother Ghost to take you down!"

A second figure appeared beside Shadow and Omega, who were still encased in crystal. They had long dark blue hair tied in a low ponytail, were wearing a long trench coat and pulled out a rifle. "Don't move," she said, pointing the rifle at the crystal. She pulled the trigger a few times, breaking the crystal apart easily with a small bolt of lightning, freeing Shadow and Omega.

"Azure the Dragon," said Omega, identifying their mysterious savior.

"Azure?" asked Shadow, confused. But sure enough it was she, only she looked much older, but not so old as to have wrinkles on her face, still quite young. Her hair and horns were longer, she had gotten taller and her wings were bigger.

"Azure...I haven't been called that in a while. Nowadays people call me Z," Z said with a light laugh. Umber suddenly cried out and was knocked back, his pistols flying out of his hands. "Umber!" cried Z, rushing over to him.

"I'm fine, but he's getting away!" shouted Umber, pointing to Mephiles, who had just disappeared into his time portal.

"Let him, he won't be able to avoid us for long. Keep that portal open, it's their only way back!" said Z.

"Got it, just do what you've got to do, kiddo," said Umber, standing up and running over to the portal. He waved his hands and four shadow blades emerged from the ground and held the portal open.

Z walked back over to Shadow and Omega and greeted him with a smile. "Shadow...it's been a very long time."

"Azure...How are you here? How are you still alive?" he asked, confused.

"I've got a pretty long lifespan and I've been tracking you since you and my past self showed up here."

"Mephiles said that you were dead," Shadow said.

"He lied. It was part of his plan to convince you to join him," Z explained.

"Then that apparition...that was a lie as well?" he asked, with a hint of hope in his voice.

Z hung her head and shook it. "No, that did happen. That part about humanity blaming you for Iblis and hunting you down was all true. Shadow, this future we live in is horrible. You've seen for yourself what's come of the world because of Iblis. Yes, Iblis is to blame, but Mephiles is the one who caused his release. He's just as much at fault. I don't know how and I don't know why but Mephiles cannot be allowed to free Iblis."

"Otherwise this future will become a reality," added Shadow.

"For some of us, it already has. Shadow, you may have only known me, or rather my past self, for less than a day even so this may not mean much when I ask you, but please do whatever you can to stop this horrible future from coming true," she said, looking at him with hopeful eyes.

Shadow was silent for a moment, which caused Z worry that he may refuse to help, something he had been known to do. "I'll stop him," he said.

"Y-you will?" she asked, surprised.

"Yes, Mephiles is up to something and after what you've informed me of, I'm determined to stop him. And I have a feeling he's not telling me everything."

"Thank goodness. I was worried you wouldn't help or even believe me either. I keep forgetting that you're not really as scary as when I first met you."

"Might wanna wrap up the reunion!" cried Umber, struggling to keep the portal open.

"Shadow, before you go, could I ask you for one more thing?" Shadow nodded. "C-could I hug you?"

Shadow cocked his eyebrow in confusion. "Hug me?"

"Just let her hug you! The last time she saw you, you were being dragged off by government forces after her leg got blown off," shouted Umber.

Shadow's eyes widened, only now noticing that her entire left leg had been replaced with cybernetics. "You lost your leg?"

"Yeah, but it's nothing compared to what we lost forever that day. And hopefully if you're successful, we'll have never lost it." Z hesitantly moved forward to hug Shadow, unsure as he had not given an answer to her question yet. Shadow nodded, allowing her to hug him. He was caught off guard when Z wrapped her arms tightly around Shadow. "I-I've really missed you, Shadow," she whispered, fighting back the tears.

Shadow simply nodded and returned the hug, wrapping his arms lightly around her back before patting her in comfort. Z pulled back and looked at Umber and the portal. "You should go, Umber can only keep that portal open for so long. And without some Chaos Emeralds and another person who can perform Chaos Control, I'm betting that's your only way back to the past, or the present... You know what I mean."

"Right," said Shadow, as he and Omega walked over to the portal.

"Shadow, I want you to have this," she said, taking his hand and placing a lighter in it. "For good luck," she added with a smile.

"Thanks," he said, wrapping his fingers around the lighter tightly.

"And when you get back to the past, or the present, whatever, I'd appreciate it if you left Umber and I out of your story when my past self asks what happened. One can never know too much about their future."

"I will." Shadow and Omega walked up to the portal but then Umber spoke.

"Hey, Shadow." Shadow looked over to Umber.

"You don't know me now, but you will soon. My sister may not show it back in your time, but she loves you. She loves you a lot. So don't break her heart," he said with narrow eyes, emphasizing each of those last words individually.

Shadow narrowed his eyes back at Umber. "I wasn't aware Azure had a brother."

"She's got a lot more than just me, but you'll find out about all of us soon. There's a lot about her that you don't know." Shadow and Umber exchanged a serious look before Shadow and Omega jumped into the portal and disappeared.

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><p><strong>I suppose you all saw this coming once I posted the picture of future Azure and Umber on my deviantART. I'm bad like that. <strong>

**If Z seems a bit over affectionate to Shadow, try to remember that she loves him dearly (but as I've stated, respects him enough not to force her feelings on him) and she hasn't seen him in like a hundred years. I mean, if I finally saw the person I loved so much after years, I'd certainly want to hug the crap out of them.**

**Anyway, please review!**

**Next chapter: Dark Joyrider - Shadow races after Eggman's train while Azure takes his Dark Rider for a spin.**

**~ZP**


	11. Dark Joyrider

**My partner for the Bloodlines comic, Zacnichols123, is pretty much pumping out the chapters for the first fic of his trilogy, Family Ties, so I figured I should keep up to his pace. Since, you know, we both have a trilogy of fanfictions to complete before we can even start on Bloodlines. It's the chronology. Since this story is primarily about Shadow's story in the game, Sonic and Silver won't receive much attention unless said character cross paths with Shadow, which does happen in the story.**

**SotP:** Thanks, I just wish that if other people liked it, they would review too. lol

**RID:** Glad you're enjoying it. Present Umber won't be meeting Shadow in person until near the end of Hostile Encounters. But yeah, Umber doesn't like Shadow.

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure and other original characters. All official Sonic the Hedgehog ideas, characters, concepts belong to SEGA**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

A time portal opened up in the main plaza of Soleanna's New City as Shadow and Omega emerged from it and landed on the ground. Shadow looked over at a close by newspaper stand and noticed the date was the day after he rescued Azure from White Acropolis, the same day they encountered Mephiles at Kingdom Valley.

"It appears Mephiles is no longer here. I shall assist in pursuing him," said Omega. "Azure also had me deliver this to you," he said, opening the compartment just below his chest, revealing the green Chaos Emerald.

"The Chaos Emerald!" cried Shadow as Omega handed it to him. "Thank you," he said. Shadow pulled out the communicator on his wrist. "Azure, come in. Do you copy?"

"Shadow? Shadow is that really you?" cried Azure from the other side in shock.

"Yeah, what's your location?"

"I'm in the warehouse district in New City. Where are you?"

Shadow looked at the town map displayed in the plaza and saw that the warehouse district was close by. "I'm close. I'll meet you there." Shadow and Omega raced through the streets and entered the warehouse district. When the arrived, Azure was there to greet them and she quickly hugged Shadow.

"Shadow! I'm so glad you made it back. When you didn't come through the portal, I was worried you got left behind. Hey wait, how come Omega's here. I thought he was still in standby mode?" asked Azure, letting go of Shadow and looking at Omega in confusion.

"He is. The Omega of this time is still in standby mode and won't wake up until the future where he'll help me and later come back to our time. Since he's a robot, time won't matter to him. And by coming back to this timeline, Omega can still remain active in the present while his past self is in standby until the future," explained Shadow.

Azure looked at Shadow, even more confused now. She grabbed her head in frustration. "Argh, time travel makes everything so confusing! Oh yeah! A few of Eggman's robots came after me looking for you. D-did you do something Shadow?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Their target is probably Mephiles."

"What is Eggman up to? Who and what is Mephiles?" asked Omega.

"Based on my encounter with him in the future, I'd say he's some form of sentient dark energy. We still don't know enough to be sure, but I think I'll ask him directly," said Shadow, walking towards the exit of the warehouse district.

"Hey wait!" cried Azure, holding up her arm to stop him.

"I can do this alone. You keep track of Mephiles and let me know when you find him," said Shadow.

Her ears drooped slightly in sadness as Shadow left the warehouse district. She had wanted to help Shadow, but he told her he didn't need it. Well, he didn't say exactly that, but that's what it felt like. She sighed before pulling out her communicator on her wrist. "G.U.N. HQ? This is Azure?"

"Go ahead, Azure, we have you," replied an agent.

"Could you pull all available data on the Scepter of Darkness. Anything at all that even mentions the name would be helpful."

"Understood, I can do that."

"Thank you. I think if you compile them together in a file and upload them to the main database, Omega can access them from where we are."

"Affirmative," replied the agent before the connection ceased.

"I can search for and pursue Mephiles on my own. You can follow Shadow and assist him if you choose," said Omega.

"Really? Thank you, Omega!" Azure cried, hugging his large arm. "But, how will I know where to find him or even Eggman?"

"Hacking into Eggman Empire database..." said Omega. "Recent files show that Eggman is on board a train, pursuing Sonic who had just rescued Princess Elise."

"There's a train station a few blocks from here. Maybe I can start there and catch up to Shadow. Thanks, Omega!" Azure flew off towards the train station but stopped suddenly. "Eggman's on a train so he'll be moving pretty fast. Shadow's fast on his feet but I don't know if he can compete with a high speeding train. And there's no way I'd be able to catch up with a train on foot or by flight." She suddenly gasped. "Shadow's bike! That could probably catch up to a train. I hope it's still where we last left it."

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><p>"You're wasting your time Shadow. You'll never catch me!" shouted Eggman from the train.<p>

Shadow growled in anger. "Hmm...the Doctor has a head start. I'll have to get the train to slow down to catch up." He raced along the pathway and construction equipment that rather alongside the train tracks. Robots flooded from Eggman's train, likely a try on Eggman's to slow him down. From the corner of his eye, he spotted a racing blue blur chasing the train on a lower pathway.

"Sonic… So he's chasing the Doctor too. It's probably that princess he's trying to rescue. Whatever, I don't have time to save princesses." Shadow narrowed his eyes and looked down for a moment. "Although, if she's on that train with the Doctor, she could get in the way if things get ugly."

Shadow looked back up just in time to see Sonic jump onto the roof of the train and enter one of the carts. Not even a minute later, Sonic emerged from the train with a girl in white with short red hair in his arms.

"Well, at least now they'll both be out of my way." Once Shadow passed all the construction equipment, he jumped down to the lower path where the train tracks lay. He tried his best to keep up with the train, but his rocket skates could only take him so fast. Shadow would never admit this out in the open but Sonic's speed was natural and Shadow could only keep up because of his skates. Sonic could speed up into a sonic boom and probably catch up to the train, but Shadow couldn't do that. It actually hurt his pride just to admit that mentally.

All of a sudden, Shadow heard an engine coming from behind him. Shadow slowed to a stop when he heard the engine growing louder. "Shadow!" he heard a faint yell along with the engine and saw his Dark Rider coming up the pathway with Azure riding it.

"Oh great," he muttered, narrowing his eyes in annoyance. He grabbed onto the motorcycle as it sped by and stood on the seat behind Azure. "What are you doing? I told you I could handle this on my own!" he shouted over the engine sound.

"Omega said he could find Mephiles on his own and said I should help you!" she exclaimed, looking at Shadow.

"Keep your eyes on the road!" he cried, pointing ahead of them.

"S-sorry!" she cried, looking back at the path ahead as they slowly caught up to the train.

"Well your timing couldn't be better. I need you to get me up to that train! Hit the nitro boost!"

"The what?" Azure asked in confusion. She instinctively looked back at him when she spoke but turned her head back once he pointed to the road ahead.

"Haven't you ever driven a G.U.N. vehicle before?" he asked.

"We don't exactly have cars where I'm from and I can fly! I've never needed a car!" she replied.

"It's that button!" he shouted, pointing to a blue button by the handlebar. Azure pressed it with her thumb and the motorcycle shot forward at an incredible speed, easily catching up to the last cart of the train. Shadow jumped onto the train and climbed up to the roof. "Head back to the town. I'll meet you there when I'm done here."

"How do I stop this thing?" she shouted.

"The brakes are by the right handlebar. If you run into any trouble, use the machine guns," he said, running along the rooftops of the other carts to get to the front.

"Wait a minute, this thing has machine guns?" she cried, but Shadow had already disappeared into the train. Azure sighed and turned onto a path leading back to the train station.

Shadow finally reached the front cart and fired a Chaos Spear into the roof and jumped into the train. "Wouldn't the door have been easier?" asked Eggman from his chair at the head of the train by a large computer console. "That roof didn't come cheap, you know. So, what do you want now?" he asked, turning his chair around to face Shadow.

"Who is Mephiles and why are you trying to capture him?" Shadow asked, pointing his finger at Eggman.

Eggman got up from his chair and turned to another console to his left. "I'm just as in the dark about who or what he really is as you are, Shadow. If you want to know, you should go ask him yourself. You are tracking him, aren't you? But I'll give you a hint since I'm oh so nice. It's all linked to the Soleanna disaster 10 years ago."

"The Solaris Project," Shadow said.

"Yes," he said, returning to his chair. "If you capture Mephiles, bring him to me."

"And why would I give him to you?" asked Shadow.

"Because if you do, I will tell you everything I can figure out about him and everything I already know about the Solaris Project, which, I suspect, is much more than you G.U.N. friends would know. Just think about it, Shadow," he said, turning back to his computer. Shadow thought for a moment about Eggman's proposition. He wasn't one to enjoy working with the Doctor, but Eggman always seemed to be able to give Shadow what he needed. He looked back at Eggman one more time before jumping through the hole in the roof he had entered through.

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><p><strong>It'll be a while in terms of Shadow's story before Azure catches up to him again. So, my question to you all is, should I write out the part of the game where Shadow and Silver go back in time? As of now, I don't really see any changes I could make to it, but if you really want me to do that scene, I will. <strong>

**Anyway, I hope to finish off Whitewash by the end of the summer, so let's hope I make that goal!**

**Review!**

**ZP signing off!**


	12. Confrontations

**Pumped out another chapter last night, but I decided to wait until tonight so I could give it a nice revision, which I think really payed off. Now, Sister of the Pharaoh made an interesting suggestion of including Azure into the Shadow-Silver conflict. While I was intrigued, I didn't think it would have made for that great of a chapter. But then, my buddy Zac suggested a chapter focusing on Azure, which I thought was a great idea! Azure is the main change since this is a rewrite of the 2006 game, so some of the content should focus solely on her, especially since her history is still something being learned by all of you (for those who already haven't snuck a peak at my wiki). **

**Anyway, this chapter is largely based on Omega's gameplay of the beach level in the game. Obviously, I don't remember the damn name of the level. I'm sure the word beach is in it somewhere. **

**Thank you for all the reviews, favs and alerts!**

**Sonic the Hedgehog belongs to SEGA. I own Azure and other OCs mentioned.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

"Omega, what's your location?" asked Azure into her communicator. She had parked Shadow's Dark Rider near the train station and decided to continue on her own by a means of transportation she could completely trust: her own wings. Given that the only experience she had operating a vehicle was the last fifteen minutes chasing Eggman's train, she wasn't going to take her chances.

"Acknowledged, currently in pursuit of Mephiles. Uploading coordinates," replied Omega through the communicator.

Azure glanced at the coordinates and turned her head towards the Old Town of Soleanna. "That's near the beach. I'm on my way, Omega!" she said, zooming off towards the beach. As she flew over, she noticed several small islands branching out from the mainland and saw bright red monsters below, much like the ones she and Shadow encountered in the future. It couldn't possibly be a coincidence. Amidst the creatures, she spotted the familiar red, grey and black robot firing rounds at the monstrosities ganging up on him. His upper torso rotated as it fired, shooting every monster that leapt towards him, keeping any of them from even getting near him. She dove down and shot lightning at a few of the beasts while Omega finished off the rest.

"The assist is appreciated, Azure, though my own armaments would have sufficed," Omega said, retracting his weapons and turning towards her.

"Oh… well I was just trying to help," she said, slightly embarrassed and her ears drooping.

"Hmm… It seems I have upset you. Perhaps I should study organic social paradigms more closely if I am to better understand organics. My experience with social interactions is rather limited. As I previously stated, your assistance is appreciated. You, uh, make things explode very well," he said, saying that last part awkwardly.

"Thanks, Omega. I think you 'make things explode' well too," she said with a light laugh.

"Yes, yes I do," Omega stated with arrogance, if a robot was capable of being arrogant. "I have tracked Mephiles, but he summons these creatures to delay my progress. They also interfere with my tracking of him. The best I can determine is that he is down one of these two pathways," Omega said, pointing to a lave cave entrance that diverged into two tunnels.

"So we split up?" asked Azure.

"Affirmative. I will take the right; you take the left. Keep in radio contact," he said.

"Got it," Azure said, flying off into the left tunnel while Omega raced down the right with his jets. As Azure flew down the tunnel, the walls of rock surrounding her felt like they were closing in tighter and tighter. She could barely see the tunnel entrance anymore, let alone hear the loud roaring of Omega's jets, which could easily be heard from a distance. Though she was used to being in caves, having grown up in an underground cavern, something about this tunnel just made her feel… like something just wasn't right, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. All of a sudden, she heard an ominous laugh echoing through along the walls.

"Hello? Is-is someone there?" she asked, stopping. From the corner of her, she saw something dash by. She moved her head to catch a glimpse, but it was already gone. She did this again and again, hoping to catch the elusive shadow taunting her, but it was far too fast for her.

"I know your fears, your desires. I can see your everything," a deep voice echoed through the cave. "He will never feel for you what you feel about him. He will never accept him when he realizes what you really are… where you really come from. Let's see, you have… many brothers." Azure cupped her hands over her ears, desperately trying to drown out the voice's words. "Yes, but I can see that his will and ambition are great and powerful. Garnet… You wish to defy him, you run from him in hopes of escaping, in hopes of living your own life. But you will never escape him."

"M-Mephiles…" she said, recognizing the voice from their first encounter. "Y-you don't know what you're talking about!" she shouted, hoping that the mild confidence she could muster would convince Mephiles otherwise, let alone convince herself.

"You know it to be true! He will find you," the voice spoke as Mephiles rose from the ground behind her. As he walked over to Azure, who was still unaware of his presence, and suddenly altered his appearance. Though he still retained his dark colors and crystalline texture, he now had a beak, spiky feathers on his head with a single feather hanging down in his face, feathers on the side of her arm, three long tail feathers and clawed feet. Once Azure finally realized someone was behind her, Mephiles' hand shot out and his fingers wrapped tightly around her neck. He easily raised her off the ground from her neck as she swung and kicked her legs and tried to pry Mephiles' hands away with her fingers, but to no avail.

"Ugh… let me go!" she cried.

"Garnett will find you, young Azure. You will never escape him and you will fulfill your destiny!" he shouted, causing her to struggle more. "But I can help you. Join me Azure, and I will keep you safe from your brother. All you have to do is do exactly as I say. You have my word," he said, in his charismatic, deep voice.

"I-I'll never join you! You're evil!" she spat back, with defiance.

"Hmm… your loyalty to Shadow is as impressive as it is a nuisance. I had hoped you to be a powerful ally, but just like Shadow you refuse to see my reason. It seems I will have to eliminate you," he said, raising his hand and returning to his Shadow copy appearance. "What a shame. I was certain you would be easier to convert, but perhaps my knowledge of you was… insufficient."

"D-don't count on it," Azure said. She quickly reached for her gauntlet and turned a knob, releasing a large stream of electric energy at Mephiles, shooting him back farther down the tunnel. Azure fell to her knees and turned the knob back into its original place. She lightly held onto her neck and coughed before looking up to see if Mephiles was still there.

Mephiles just laughed and stood up as if her lightning had no effect on him. He gave her his blank and frightening stare as he strolled over to her like a puppet. Azure stepped back in fear before taking off down the rest of the tunnel to the closest exit she could find as fast as her wings could carry her. Mephiles raised his hand and a large purple golem suddenly appeared in front of her, bringing Azure to a sudden stop. She stepped back in fear as the golem towered over her.

"You did well against the Iblis Golems before. I look forward to testing out my new Mephiles Golems and I think you will make an excellent test subject," he said with a laugh.

Azure suddenly remembered radio and contacted Omega. "Omega, I've got Mephiles! I need immediate assistance!" she cried with desperation.

"Affirmative, changing course to your location," he replied.

"Just get here quick!" she cried, as she jumped to the side to avoid the golem's fist crashing into the ground. She took to the air and shot a bolt of lightning at the golem, but it had little effect. The golem reached out with its large hand and wrapped its fingers tightly around her before slamming her into the wall. When it withdrew its hand, Azure lay stuck in the wall for a few seconds within the impact crater before lifelessly falling onto the ground. She groaned and slowly lifted herself off the ground. She coughed just as she saw the golem approach her. Every fiber of her being was telling her to move out of the way, attack, do something! But she just felt too weak to move.

All of a sudden, a missile came out of nowhere and shot the golem right in the head, knocking it down to the ground. Omega suddenly swooped in, aiming all his guns at Mephiles.

"Heh, meddlesome robot. I should have finished you when I had the chance, a mistake I won't make again," said Mephiles, flying away down the other end of the tunnel.

"Th-thanks Omega. If you hadn't come along in time…" she said, not wanting to even imagine what would happen if he didn't make it.

"The golem would have crushed you," he finished. "I will pursue Mephiles," he said, preparing his jets. Before he took off, he turned to Azure and said, "Perhaps you should locate Shadow and inform him of our progress."

"Yeah… ok. I'll do that," she answered with minimal enthusiasm.

"Mephiles fled back towards our original point of entry. I can escort you back to the town until his trail leads me otherwise," he added with some concern.

"Thanks Omega," she said, as she and Omega flew down the cave back to the cave entrance.

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><p><strong>So I estimate that this fic should be wrapped up in a few more chapters, since we're nearing the end and only focusing on Shadow's story. <strong>

**For those familiar with the comics, Omega's "you explode things very well" line was a reference to the Treasure Team Tango arc of Sonic Universe when Omega first meets Blaze and is amazed by her fire powers and her ability to practically render his firearms useless. It's really cute, check it out!**

**So for those who don't know, Azure's oldest brother Garnett isn't the nicest guy in the world and let's just say he's got a plan that involves all his brothers and sisters, a plan that Azure wants no part in. But you'll find out more about that later on. hehe**

**Next chapter: Omega learns the painful truth about the role he played in Shadow's future.**

**Please do review! I'd love to hear your feedback on this story and any suggestions for future chapter content!**


	13. Promises

**I'll be honest, I was kinda putting off uploading this chapter for the past few days mostly because my dog chewed up my tablet pen (AGAIN!) and I've been in a foul mood and I recently bought Dragon Age: Origins and have been playing that for the past two days. I actually tried it a couple years back and didn't enjoy it, but have decided to give it another go and I'm really liking it so far. There are a few things that bug me, but nonetheless, it's a very good game. But yeah, been far too preoccupied at home to upload this, so here I am, at work, far away from the distraction of a video game, uploading it. And yes, I see the irony.**

**Thanks for all the favs, alerts and reviews!**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, which is property of SEGA. I only own Azure and other mentioned OCs. **

**Recap: Shadow has just returned from a trip 10 years into the past with Silver the Hedgehog and witnessed the origins of Iblis and Mephiles, as well as learning how to defeat them. But before they can progress, Omega has cornered Mephiles at the beach and may require some assistance.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

Azure flew over all of Soleanna, looking for any sign of the familiar black and red hedgehog. When she circled back towards New Town to begin a second sweep, she saw a blue time portal open up in the middle of the main plaza as Shadow dropped out of it. She flew down to the plaza to meet him and Shadow turned to her as she landed next to him.

"Th-that was a time portal wasn't it? Wait, you are my Shadow, right? I-I mean, not 'my' Shadow, uh, I mean the Shadow from this timeline, the one we're in right now. I'm rambling now; I must sound stupid," Azure mumbled turning away from Shadow to hide her blush.

"I was able to get to Eggman on the train," Shadow started explaining. "After that, I helped Sonic against this white hedgehog with psychic powers."

"Psychic powers? D-did he have blue circles on his hands?" she asked curiously.

"Yes… how did you know that?" Shadow asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Um… I read something about it… in a book back home!" Azure quickly responded. "So what happened next?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"He mistook me for Mephiles."

"Well, I can see why," Azure said. Shadow looked at her with his usual dark glare. "Sorry," she said, allowing him to continue his story.

"We used Chaos Control and traveled back in time ten years and witnessed the Solaris Project. The Duke of Soleanna was trying to harness the power of their sun god, but there was a fatal explosion, and Mephiles and another being called Iblis were created. Silver pursued Iblis while I chased after Mephiles… and sealed him in the Scepter."

"So that's how Mephiles knows you!"

"Exactly. If we're going to defeat him, we need the Scepter of Darkness. The only way to beat Mephiles is to seal him away for good."

"But it was destroyed!" cried Azure.

"So then we make another one. Access the G.U.N. database and research how the Scepter is made," said Shadow.

"Ok."

"Where's Omega?" Shadow asked.

Azure turned and pointed towards the beach front. "He's still going after Mephiles. The last time I spoke with him over the radio, he was still around the beach front area."

"Good. I'll catch up with Omega. You stay here. Once you find what we're looking for, meet us at the beach," said Shadow.

"All right," Azure replied, nodding her head. She contacted G.U.N. while Shadow raced off towards the beach.

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><p>Omega fired another round of bullets into Mephiles, who limply stepped back when each one impacted. He panted for a few seconds before laughing smugly. "Your firepower is impressive, robot. This only proves that you were created to stop Shadow."<p>

Omega didn't answer, only pulling his arm back slowly.

"Don't tell me you didn't know. You may have been programmed by humanity, but what you will do to Shadow in the future. But wait, you're from a future two hundred years from now. To you, it's already happened. You've already done it; you've already betrayed Shadow," Mephiles taunted. "These organics are inferior to you. You are a god walking among mere mortals and yet you serve them like a lap dog. I can help you find a… greater calling," Mephiles said, holding out his hand.

Omega simply stared at Mephiles and said nothing. He rotated his arms, his hands changing into gun barrels and opened fire on Mephiles. Mephiles made no sound as the bullets struck his crystal body. He fell back limp on the ground and laughed as he disappeared into a black mist.

Shadow finally caught up to him, shortly followed by Azure. "Is… is he gone?" asked Azure meekly.

"It seems tracking Mephiles does little good if he can vanish in an instant," said Shadow, crossing his arms.

"Shadow…" said Omega, turning to face his friend. "The one who hunted you down and imprisoned you… was me," he hesitated to say.

Shadow uncrossed his arms slowly, taken aback and said nothing to his friend.

"I have been reviewing my memory logs from my time in the future. What happened was… unsettling. I was forcibly reprogrammed," Omega started, with a hint of discomfort in his tone of voice, "to hunt you down and destroy anything that got in my way," he said, turning his gaze at Azure.

"W-why are you looking at me like that?" asked Azure. When Omega didn't answer, she became more worried. "What? What happened to me in the future?" she cried.

"I do not know. My priority was Shadow. My logs show that you were assisting him. When I caught up to you, I opened fire and subdued Shadow. What happened to you after… I do not know," Omega answered sadly.

"B-but that's not fair! Shadow's done nothing but good! He's always helping people!" Azure cried, as if her words would be enough to prevent the future Omega had already lived through. "He saved everyone from the ARK when it was falling from orbit, and he defeated the Black Arms," she said, rambling on about everything Shadow has done.

"Over time, when something or someone is seen too powerful, it is seen as a threat and the world becomes its enemy. Efforts are made to destroy it, before it can strike them," Omega explained.

Azure turned sharply, holding back her tears. She knew all too well what happens when a people are seen as too powerful… too capable of so much good as they are destruction. Her ancestors had lived through that horror, being hunted down because of the power they possessed. She was not even born when the Great Purge occurred, but her ancestors hid to survive. If not for that, she would not be alive today. She had heard countless stories of the horrid purge and she would never wish such an atrocity on anyone, certainly not someone she cared so much for.

Shadow stayed standing with his back to the two of them before walking away.

"Shadow!" Azure cried sharply when she heard his footsteps carry him away. Shadow stopped when she called him, but did not turn to face her. "I know we haven't known each other very long so this may not mean much to you but… I just want you to know that no matter what happens, even if you think the whole world will turn against you, just know that I'll always stand by your side, Shadow. No matter what," she said, turning away to hide her blush.

Shadow did not seem surprised by Azure's words. With his back still turned to them, he stealthily pulled out the lighter he brought back from the future. He stared at the scratched and banged up metal of the casing before lightly brushing his thumb over the red insignia. He hadn't realized it before, but it was the same insignia he painted on his Dark Rider. He wouldn't forget what he learned from Z and Umber in the future… the pain and destruction that was to come if Mephiles wasn't stopped and just how hard Z fought for him and what she lost in the process.

He shut his eyes tightly, trying to fight off the image of a bloody and battered Azure lying in a heap of rubble, missing her left leg that had been freshly blown off during an assault from forming in his mind. It was true that he had only known her for a few days, but in that short time, she had fought with determination to prove herself to him. She was determined and loyal, and he admired that. To know that even two hundred years from now, he would still have a loyal friend like her brought him some form of comfort.

He hid the lighter tightly in his hand from her sight and turned to her, simply uttering "I will," to her before walking off.

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><p><strong>That one scene in the game with Rouge is probably the only time in the game that I actually don't mind her in. I felt it was a very touching scene so I hope you guys like my spin on it with Azure. <strong>

****Some of you guys have expressed concern about a sequel. Let me just say, yes there will be two sequels. This is a trilogy of fanfictions which I'm hoping to complete within a year from now so I can start on the comic that takes place afterwards. The two sequels will be completely original content, with nothing based on canon events like this one is. Basically, it'll dive deeper into Azure's family and the history of her people all of which have been referenced during the course of this fic. ****

**I do urge you guys to review when you read this. I really want your thoughts on the fic, my characters and how you think I've down and any way you think I can improve or even some ideas you might have!**

**Lay it on me!**


	14. Search for a Scepter

**So I just finished this chapter right now. I wanted to take the small opportunity I had to wrap up another chapter before I fall back into Dragon Age 2. lol Hopefully I'll be able to wrap this up and start on the sequel, which I'm getting very excited for because we will see a lot more OCs, not just Azure.**

**Anyway, as usual, thank you for reviewing and adding to alerts/favs. Please do continue to review. I would love to hear some feedback. Any spelling and grammatical errors are my fault.**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure and other mentioned OCs.**

**RECAP: Shadow has learned from Omega that his robot friend will betray him in the future. But if Mephiles is stopped, perhaps it will never happen? However, the only way to stop Mephiles is to seal him within the Scepter of Darkness, but that was destroyed... wasn't it?**

* * *

><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

"Oh, where could Shadow have gone? He's not answering his radio," Azure said as she paced back and forth in worry.

"Shadow enjoys his solitude. If it is his wish to be alone, we must respect it," answered Omega.

"But we don't have any time to waste! We have to make a new Scepter of Darkness, track down Mephiles AND stop him before he destroys the future! I don't mean to be a nag, but we can't just sit around and do nothing!" she protested.

"I've known Shadow for many years now. He will want some time to think over what has happened… what I've told him. When he is ready, he will come back to us. If you are concerned, perhaps we can prepare ourselves until he is ready. Have you uncovered any additional information on Mephiles?" he asked.

Azure sighed and calmed down. "Yes, according to Shadow, the only way to defeat Mephiles is to seal him. And to do that, we need a Scepter of Darkness. The bad news is that the Scepter was destroyed a while back, hence Mephiles running free now."

"Is there a way to construct a replacement Scepter?" asked Omega.

"I don't know. I did some research at the Soleanna library, but they didn't have much."

"Perhaps there will be something in the restricted section. Did you check there?"

"Restricted?" asked Azure in confusion.

"Most libraries keep classified materials in restricted sections where only certain individuals with the right clearance can access them. It is an excellent place to keep secrets."

"So how do we get access?"

"I believe I can persuade them to grant us access," said Omega, walking towards the library.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" muttered Azure, flying after him.

* * *

><p>Shadow sat on a bench by the harbor in Soleanna's New City. He cast his eyes over the horizon in the distance as the boats bobbed up and down in the water in front of him. He took no notice of the people around them and what they did and simply stared out at the sea, unconsciously flipping the lighter in his hand open and closed. The clicking of the metal mixed into the background noises so well that he barely noticed the sound anymore.<p>

Omega was going to betray him.

Or at least from the robot's point of view, he already had! Omega was one of his most trusted allies, one of the few that he could call his friend, of which there were not many, sadly. Deep down, he knew that Omega would never betray him of his own free will. But it wasn't of his own free will; he was forcibly reprogrammed. Omega was taken over, rewritten to track down and capture his own friend and destroy anyone that got in his way.

He suddenly thought of Azure. Omega had been awkwardly silent when he brought up the possibility of something bad happening to her in the future. He remembered that Z, Azure's future self two hundred years from now, had lost her own leg when she was defending him. Perhaps Omega was the cause?

It would certainly make sense. Perhaps Azure put herself between them in her desperate and noble attempt to protect him… and Omega attacked. And once Omega had him, he'd left, which would explain why he didn't know what happened to her after.

But why was he so concerned about something that hadn't even happened yet? If Mephiles was stopped, he could easily prevent this betrayal from happening. When Shadow truly thought of how he felt about this, he felt himself sympathizing with Omega more than being angry with him.

Omega was taken over and forced to do something horrible to his friend. Was he aware of what he was doing when he did it? Could he see it and not be able to do anything to stop himself? What Omega must have been thinking… what he had to go through in betraying his friend.

As he ran it through his head more and more, Shadow slowly came to the conclusion that he couldn't blame Omega for something he had been forced to do.

He would gain nothing by sitting here and feeling sorry for himself. There was still time to act. And if he was successful, this betrayal could be prevented, sparing both Shadow and Omega their pains.

Shadow's head snapped up as he suddenly came out of his deep thoughts when he heard the sound of Omega's engines getting louder and closer to him. He snapped the lighter shut and hopped off the bench as Omega and Azure caught up to him.

"Sh-shadow? Are you ok?" Azure asked, with worry and sincerity in her eyes.

"Fine. What have you found?" he asked, getting straight to business.

"W-well, Omega and I went to the library and accessed the restricted sections for anything on the Scepter of Darkness," said Azure.

"How did you gain access to restricted files?" asked Shadow, cocking his eyebrow at them.

Azure and Omega quickly turned to face each other, giving each other an awkward look before they turned back to Shadow. "Details aren't important," said Omega plainly.

"Anyway, we found out that during the Solaris project you were talking about ten years ago, the Scepter was created as an emergency procedure. The project was apparently an energy research program, but that wasn't true. It was actually a secret project dedicated to harnessing the power of time by conducting experiments on something called the Flames of Hope."

"Flames of Hope?" asked Shadow.

"According to the files, it's another name for their sun god, Solaris, the deity they worship in Soleanna. If we head to the old lab, do you think we can find what we need to make a new Scepter?" she asked.

"It's our only lead right now…" Shadow said, averting his eyes to the ground in deep thought.

"What's wrong?" asked Azure.

"I saw the project fail first hand. There was an explosion and this Solaris split into two entities: Mephiles and Iblis. It seems that Mephiles is only part of the problem here."

"So who is Iblis and what do we do to find him?" asked Azure.

"It doesn't matter. We focus on Mephiles for now." Shadow didn't know much about Iblis, but he knew who Iblis was. According to Z back in the future, Mephiles was the cause of Iblis' release, which sent everything into a downward spiral: his capture, Omega's betrayal and the destruction of the future. If they stopped Mephiles, then they wouldn't have to worry about Iblis, whatever it was. "Let's go," he said.

"Wait, how do we find the research lab?" asked Azure.

"We don't have to. I already know where it is."

"And where's that?"

"Beneath the lake of Kingdom Valley," Shadow answered with a subtle smile. The three traveled to Kingdom Valley as quickly as they could, not stopping for any distraction that could impede their progress.

"So if the base is underwater, exactly how do we get in?" asked Azure, looking over the lake surrounding the crumbling castle.

"When I was in the lab in the past, the psychic hedgehog and I exited from an emergency exit that led into the forest. It was clearly designed to remain hidden and keep people out. With luck, the passageway is still in tact," Shadow said, leading them deeper into woods. When they finally reached the passage Shadow was talking about, all they found was a stone wall with no sign of any passage in the mountain even existing.

"It doesn't look like there's anything here…" Azure said awkwardly.

"This is the spot. I'm sure of it. Omega, think you can clear us a way?" Shadow asked, turning to the behemoth.

"It will be my pleasure!" he boasted, pulling out all his guns and weapons before aiming them at the wall and firing. "The way is clear," Omega said with pride as a dark tunnel lay before them by a heap of rock and debris.

"Let's go," ordered Shadow.

"Are you sure? I don't have a good feeling about his!" Azure exclaimed, feeling nervous about entering the abandoned dark tunnel. When neither Shadow nor Omega replied to her protesting, she dashed forward to catch up to them as they entered the tunnel.

Shadow heard the sound of metal as his shoes touched the ground. "Metal floors. We're on the right track. Let's hope we find what we need."

* * *

><p><strong>This was sort of a last minute thing I thought of. I didn't like how the game made it oh so convenient and rather unlikely that we get a new Scepter by lighting candles of a fountain... Really? So I looked up the Scepter on the Sonic wiki and learned that it was created as an emergency procedure during the Solaris Project. Therefore, I decided to take the more logical spin on getting another Scepter in the story.<strong>

**Plus, it also allows me to still cover the Aquatic Base level since I skipped out on writing the level when Shadow went back in time with Silver.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. Please review!**

**Next Chapter: Deep in the bowels of the abandoned lab, Shadow, Azure and Omega encounter a number of frightening beasts as they attempt to reconstruct the Scepter of Darkness to defeat Mephiles once and for all.**

**~ZP**


	15. Echoes of the Past

**What another chapter already? Madness, I tell you! Madness!**

**Anyway, I plowed through a third playthrough of Dragon Age 2, start to finish, all yesterday, so I think I've had enough Dragon Age 2 to last me for a while now. I think all my fanfictions will be taking a back seat to this one, since I am on a time crunch for this series. Regardless, I will try to work on the Black Knight fic and my Loonatics fic as well.**

**I'm actually liking the twist I've made on the Aquatic Base level. I really didn't think of it until I was literally writing the previous chapter and it is really unraveling into something awesome in my head. **

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure.**

**Review replies:**

**amber: Do you think I'm going to tell you? Even if I wanted to, you're anonymous - that means I can't send you a PM. You obviously just have to wait until the next chapter ^3^**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

As Shadow, Azure and Omega descended further into the dark tunnel that led to the underground aquatic research lab, the light from their entrance crept away, leaving them in uncomfortable and eerie darkness. Their only source of light came from Azure's gauntlets, which glowed light yellow and blue rather brightly in the dark, and a built in flashlight courtesy of Omega. While Shadow and Omega felt no hesitation in the darkness, Azure was not feeling the same level of comfort as these veterans.

With the hulking arsenal walking a steady pace behind her, she hunched slightly behind Shadow in front of her. She nervously huddled behind Shadow with her ears drooped and wings pulled in tightly against her back. Though she may not have noticed it right away, she was tightly gripping Shadow's arm as they walked. When she finally did notice, she was far too afraid to let go, for one part because she was scared enough in the dark tunnel already and secondly because she was afraid of what Shadow would do. Even though she didn't know him personally long enough, she knew he wasn't a touchy-feely kind of guy. Would he bluntly scold her for simply seeking comfort in his protection, would he smugly joke about her fright and continue to allow her to hold onto him or would he just say nothing as if he didn't know she was grasping his arm?

All of a sudden, Azure nearly jumped out of her own skin when she heard a loud metal clank. "What was that?" she shrieked, nearly jumping in Shadow's arms, hugging him tightly.

"Sorry, that was me…" muttered Omega.

"Oh…" Azure laughed nervously. She looked up at Shadow, who returned her gaze with his usual emotionless glare before grabbing her hands and removing them from around his shoulders. She looked down in embarrassment before following after Shadow.

Once they reached the end of the tunnel, they came to a large metal doorway with a symbol of Soleanna plastered across the doors.

"Omega?" asked Shadow.

"Affirmative," Omega answered, walking up to the door and prying it open with his metal claws in ease. Omega shined his light around the room as they noticed several desks and papers littered across the space.

"Looks like the central lobby. We'll need to find the generator to restore power and then find out how to craft a new Scepter," said Shadow. He walked over to the main desk, which he took for as the main reception and spotted a map on the wall behind it. "We're here… the main power generator is all the way in the west wing while the main server is in north wing."

"Why do we need the main server room?" asked Azure.

"Once we restore power to the main generators, Omega can access for the lab's computer files. Then we can find out where in this lab and just how to make a new Scepter. Omega, you head for the main server. Azure and I will restore the power and rendezvous with you," Shadow ordered, as he pointed to the map.

"Affirmative," Omega said, starting up his jets as he glided over to the north wing.

Shadow turned to Azure. "West wing, let's go," he said as she nodded in reply. They made it through the west wing with relative ease as only a few pieces of debris occasionally blocked their path. Perhaps the explosion from Project Solaris occurred in the east wing, leaving the west wing relatively undamaged since it was farthest from the detonation.

"How do we start it?" Azure asked.

"Hm… see if you can power up that console over there then I can see how the generator works," Shadow said. Azure twisted the knob on her gauntlet and shot a small bolt of lightning into the console, immediately firing it up, before she turned the knob back into place.

Shadow wiped the dust off the screen as the console powered up and began typing. "It looks like the generator was powered by the water movement in the lake above. Unfortunately, the turbines in the lake appear to be damaged beyond repair. It's possible the explosion from ten years ago and years without maintenance have caused them to fall into disrepair. Dammit… without power, we can't figure out how to make a new Scepter!" Shadow grunted, slamming his fist into the keyboard.

"Shadow wait!" she cried, trying to console his anger. "I think I might be able to help with that." Azure flew over to the generator and used the light of her gauntlets to find the main power circuits of the generator. Once she found them, she turned the knobs on her gauntlets – past the point she had turned them to when she powered up the console – before tightly grabbing the power circuits.

Sparks of white lightning burst from Azure's body the second her hands touched the circuits of the generator, which quickly powered up with a whirring humming noise. The sounds of working machinery powering up echoed through the remains of the lab as the lights came on, finally illuminating the dark and abandoned lab, which made it much less scary, in Azure's opinion.

"Good, we've got power. Let's head over to the north wing and meet up with Omega," said Shadow.

"Ok." Azure took her hands off the generator when the lights suddenly shut and all the machinery went silent, retuning the lab to its eerie state that Azure disliked. "What's going on?"

"It seems like the generator needs more power. How fast can you generate lightning?" he asked.

"I'm always generating lightning. It's not exactly something I get to choose. My gauntlets store up all the energy my body makes and let's me expel it in safe amounts," Azure explained.

"Well, it looks like you'll have to stay here and keep the generator running. If we're going to get a new Scepter, we'll need power in the lab."

"Wait, you're going to leave me here?" she cried, frantic.

"My skills are better suited helping Omega right now. You'll be fine. There's nothing down here but debris and old machines. We'll radio you when we're done."

"Uh… ok," she said sadly. She restarted the generator with her lightning as the facility powered up once again. Shadow shot her a confident look before leaving out the door, leaving Azure uncomfortable and alone.

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><p>"Omega, what's your status?" Shadow asked, as he entered the main server room.<p>

"I have been downloading all information on this facility and the Solaris Project. Some files have been corrupted over time, but I should be able to restore them and retrieve the information we need," Omega replied from the main terminal.

"Anything on the Scepter of Darkness?"

"One moment… Scanning… Complete. The machine used to construct the Scepter of Darkness is located in the east wing."

"Good, then let's go!"

"Warning! Passage to the west wing from the central atrium is blocked. According to my scans, the majority of the east wing was flooded from the lake above and much of the passage was sealed off to prevent flooding of the rest of the facility."

"Is the machine still intact?"

"The machine was considered classified information, meaning it would be located in the deepest sector of the east wing, which remains bereft of the flooding."

"So how do we get to the west wing then?" asked Shadow.

"There is a connecting passage to the far end of the east wing located in the south wing," replied Omega.

Shadow and Omega raced back through the remains of the north wing back to the central atrium from where they originally came in. All of a sudden, they felt a tremor shake through the entire facility as clouds of dust were released from cracks in the ceiling and walls. A low ominous growl echoed across the metal walls through the facility.

"What… what was that?" Shadow murmured.

"Did you guys hear that? Please tell me you heard that! What the heck was that?" cried Azure frantically from the radio.

"I'm not sure. What's your status?" Shadow asked.

"It's still the same over here. Can you guys please hurry? This place gives me the creeps!" she pleaded.

"Omega and I are headed over to the east wing through a passage in the south wing. With any luck, the machine to make a new Scepter will be there in working order and we'll be done with this place."

"Good! I don't like being on my own over here so please hurry!" Without wasting anymore time, Shadow and Omega raced off to the south wing in hopes of reaching the passage that would take them to the machine that would make them a new Scepter of Darkness. If luck was on their side, the machine would still be in working order.

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><p>Azure nervously tapped her foot on the ground as she touched the circuits of the generator with both hands. Despite Shadow's reassurance, being left on her own in this abandoned facility did not do well for her nerves. That last tremor followed by a hollow and echoing howl only made her increasingly nervous. There was definitely more than just debris and old machines down here!<p>

She sighed and lightly banged her head on the generator. "I hope the finish soon. I'll die happy if I know I never have to come back here!"

All of a sudden, she heard a metal clank nearby. "Who's there?" she shouted, trying to be brave. She would have gone to investigate, but she had to keep the generator running. This is where Shadow needed her so this was where she was going to be! She leaned out as far as she could to see through the doorway while trying to keep her hands on the circuit board.

Her head snapped up when she heard a low growl come from the doorway. "S-stay back!" she cried, shooting a small warning bolt at the foot of the doorway. When a creature suddenly lunged towards her, she let out a cry of fear that echoed through the metal halls of the empty complex.

But she went unheard.

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><p><strong>Well, I hope you guys like these little parts I've added. I'm really trying to make the experience different than the one we got from the canon game.<strong>

**Please review and tell me what you liked/didn't like about something and how you think I can improve or even some ideas you have for me!**

**~ZP**


	16. Flood

**If it seems like the underwater lab part ends a bit too abruptly, I apologize. In truth, I'm ready for the events in that location to be done with and move onto a more exciting part of the story, at least a part that I view as more exciting.**

**I've also been quite preoccupied with constructing a FemHawke and Fenris costume. I've never made a cosplay costume before, but I have no doubts that I can't do it! I've got it all planned out, what I'll need, where I can get it and as my co worker (who makes costumes) says, if I'm really passionate about it, it will be no problem.**

**Thanks for all the reviews, +favs and +alerts.**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure and other mentioned OCs.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

Shadow reached in and pulled out the Scepter that the machine had effectively crafted for them. He held it tightly in his hand and closely examined the details. If he had not seen the original Scepter shatter in the first place, he would almost be certain that this was the exact same Scepter.

"We have the Scepter. Now we must pursue Mephiles," said Omega.

"Yes. But…" started Shadow.

"Am I missing something? Is this an organic thing?" Omega asked in confusion.

"No, it just… Does this feel too easy for you?"

"Perhaps we should be thankful this part of the plan was this easy. I have no illusions that the latter stages will be equally as simple."

All of a sudden, the lights above them flickered before dying out as the low hum of the machinery suddenly hushed. "The power went out… Azure, come in. The power's gone out, is something up on your end?" he asked into the radio. However, he was only greeted by eerie static. "Something's wrong. Azure would have contacted us if something was wrong. Let's head to the generator."

As they made their way through the tattered hallways back towards the main atrium, they heard a shrill cry echo through the metal halls. _'Wh-what was that?' _Shadow thought furiously. He growled to himself as he sped off towards the atrium. As the entrance to the atrium came within his line of sight, he could see flashes of white light and hear crackling sounds. His instinct immediately told him that it was no doubt Azure's lightning. That meant that she was ok, at least for now. Just as he got to the doorway to the atrium, Azure suddenly flew back towards him, the sheer force knocking him back into the wall.

"Engaging hostiles!" stated Omega, walking past them and into the atrium, firing rounds of bullets as he proceeded.

Shadow groaned and rubbed his head before sitting up. "Azure, you ok?" he asked, helping Azure onto her feet.

"I'm sorry, Shadow! I tried to stay by the generator like you told me, but this monster attacked me!" she flustered.

"It's all right. We've got the Scepter so we're done here," Shadow said as they joined Omega in the atrium. Latched onto the wall opposite to them was a large dark purple, flaming monster with a large beak, sharp fangs and uneven talons at the tip of its long, skinny arms and fingers. Luckily, Omega's constant fire was able to suppress the monster and keep it from doing anything.

"Preparing to annihilate hostile!" declared Omega

"No! Our priority is Mephiles. We have what we came for," ordered Shadow.

"But I don't think that thing's going to let us just walk out!" cried Azure.

"You're right, it's not. Omega! The ceiling!" Shadow shouted as he pointed to the ceiling above.

Omega looked up and quickly understood Shadow's plan. He aimed his missiles at the ceiling above, causing a powerful explosion upon contact while the force shook through the entire lab. The monster hesitated for a moment, distracted by Omega's missiles and looked up. Slowly, the ceiling began cracking as water broke through the cement, spraying lightly over the monster. Omega fired a second round of missiles, breaking the ceiling apart as water poured into the atrium and onto the monster, which let out a shrill cry of pain as the water doused its flaming body. The water from the lake above quickly began filling up the atrium as it poured into the halls while the monster flailed and let out piercing shrieks as the water kept pouring onto it.

"Omega, let's go! Now!" shouted Shadow with urgency. The water level began rising too quickly for Shadow as it slowed his running speed, so Azure picked him up by his hands as she and Omega flew up the tunnel back to the surface, racing to escape the pursuing water that filled the lab and threatened to swallow them up. They reached the surface just as the water sprayed all over them before sinking back further into the tunnel. Azure lay on the ground, flat on her back, panting heavily as her wings lay spread out and exhausted.

"We could have easily defeated the beast. Why did we retreat?" asked Omega, somewhat hurt by their choice of retreat over a possible victory.

"Because Mephiles is our focus. Engaging the creature would have cost us precious time, which we can't spare. I knew the lake was still above us, so flooding the lab with the water would drown it out and finally put this ghost of a facility to rest," Shadow said, glancing back at the tunnel. "Seal the entrance. Let's bury this place for good," he said, as Omega fired two missiles at the tunnel, causing it to cave in on itself. When the dust cleared, the entrance lay buried under a heap of rocks.

"So how do we find Mephiles?" Azure asked.

"Mephiles is too elusive for us to track. Every time we get close, he escapes. So, we need to predict his movements and intercept him," Shadow said, pacing back and forth while Azure and Omega awaited his next command. "Mephiles will need a large power source to reunite with Iblis. He'll want a Chaos Emerald."

"But if he wants one, why doesn't he just come after us?" Azure asked, referring to the green Chaos Emerald they possessed.

"Mephiles knows we seek the means to seal him, so he wouldn't come after our Emerald without putting himself at risk. Sonic has an Emerald as well, and so do Silver and Eggman, but Mephiles wouldn't risk exposing himself without reason. Mephiles always does things with subtlety," he said, thinking for a moment. "No, Mephiles would go for a Chaos Emerald that isn't with anyone. Omega, where's the closest stationary Emerald?"

Omega waited a few seconds, likely conducting a scan, before answering, "There is one located in a desert temple west of this location."

"Let's go then. I'll be happy if I never have to see Kingdom Valley again!" exclaimed Azure remembering the last time she was in the area.

"Yes, let's not keep Mephiles waiting."

* * *

><p>"So these are the ruins?" asked Shadow.<p>

"Yes, my scanner indicates that a Chaos Emerald is located within the temple," answered Omega.

"Doesn't it seem a bit odd that a desert temple is located so close to a city of water, with an old kingdom palace and everything?" asked Azure innocently.

"We're not here to question architectural integrity; we're here for Mephiles," Shadow walked up to the large doors of the desert temple, but they were tightly shut.

"It doesn't look like we can get in this way," said Azure.

"I can easily clear a path," said Omega, preparing his missiles.

"No," said Shadow, holding out his arm to stop Omega from firing. "I don't want to risk collapsing the temple. Besides, we don't want to advertise to Mephiles that we're here. Are there any other entrances?"

"Negative. However, an old Soleanna mining tunnel runs just under the temple," Omega replied. They followed Omega, who led them to the entrance of the supposed mining tunnels. "These tunnels were once mined for rare gems, but a cave in killed many of the workers and the tunnel was abandoned."

"Let's go," said Shadow, as Omega tore off the wooden boards that were nailed over the entrance.

"Oh great… more tunnels," Azure shuddered before following after Shadow and Omega. They proceeded down the tunnel, once again guided by Omega's built in flashlight and the faint glow of Azure's gauntlets. They finally came to a dead end, as piled up rocks and rubble blocked their way.

"Dig through the blockage. No firearms, Omega. We don't want to risk another cave in," ordered Shadow.

"Understood," said Omega, walking up to the block as he began drilling his way through.

Meanwhile, Azure slouched down against the walls of the tunnel and sighed. "And here I was thinking that I'd never be sent on a big mission," Azure shouted slightly over the sound of Omega's drilling, with a light chuckle.

"You haven't been with G.U.N. very long?" Shadow asked in a mild shout as well, sitting next to her.

"Just over half a year now. Commander Towers only sent me because Rouge wasn't available. You know, sometimes I wonder where I would be now if I wasn't sent in Rouge's place."

"Do you ever regret it? Even with everything we have to face?"

"Regret it? Not at all! This is a dream come true! Not the evil-entity-might-destroy-the-world-if-we-don't-stop-him part, but I got to meet my idol. I know it's silly; I must sound like a crazy fangirl," Azure said, brushing aside one of her bangs.

"What have you heard about me?" Shadow asked, curious.

"Oh, what haven't I heard? You and Sonic the Hedgehog stopped the ARK from colliding with the Earth, you helped him defeat Metal Sonic, AND you stopped the invasion of the Black Arms and defeated Black Doom!"

"So you've heard a lot then. I imagine those stories must have been over exaggerated."

"Oh I wouldn't say that, not after seeing you in a fight first hand," Azure said with a smile.

"Did they also tell you that I was responsible for the ARK crashing into Earth in the first place?" he asked, with a hint if resentment and regret in his voice. Omega had progressed further into the cave so the sound of his loud drills died down a bit.

Azure's ears drooped as she cast her gaze down. "Y-yeah. But you changed! You helped stop it and saved thousands of lives! Even when everyone thought you would side with the Black Arms, when everyone thought you would do something evil, you fought for the greater good. You used your powers – the same powers Mephiles claims they fear – to help people and save innocent lives. And… that's what I admire most about you," she said, looking at him with a sweet smile.

Shadow let out a short laugh as he sighed. "You're a good kid, Azure. You'll make a great G.U.N. agent."

"Thanks, Shadow. I, uh, also heard about what happened on board the ARK 50 years ago," she said, as Shadow's body stiffened. "I know it won't mean much when I say this – I wasn't even born yet – but I'm sorry for what happened to your friend. She must have meant a lot to you," she said sincerely.

"She did. But my past is where it belongs."

"I understand. But that doesn't mean you never have to think about her. I know I might seem disrespectful, and I'm sorry if I do, but you can choose what to remember about her. You don't have to remember how she died. Instead, you can remember all the good times you had with her." Azure eyed Shadow carefully, as he looked up as if in sudden realization. His eyes remained locked with the wall across from him and he remained silent. He finally snapped from his trance and changed the subject.

"What about you? Family back home?" he asked, already knowing part of the answer himself. From what Umber, Azure's brother from the future, had told him, she had many siblings.

"My mom died giving birth to me and my dad died a bit after that, so I never knew them. I've got a lot of brothers and sisters, though. I'm actually the youngest."

"How many of there are you?"

"Including myself? Nine."

"And they all have lightning powers?" Shadow asked, curious.

"Well, not lightning specifically, but something like that," she said, drawing her knees into her chest.

"What are their names?"

"Oh, you don't want to sit here and listen to me list out names you'll probably forget," she said.

"It's fine if you don't want to talk about it. I understand." Azure was slightly taken aback by his words. Had he seen through her ruse to easily? Regardless, she brushed her bangs back over her face to hide herself from his eyes. "Any other family?"

"I have an uncle: Azreal," she said with more enthusiasm. "He lives out near the Mystic Ruins by Station Square. I visit him whenever I can."

"Having family can be more worthwhile than you think," Shadow said.

"I know. I haven't spoken or seen my brothers and sisters since I left home, but I miss them. And I love my uncle, he's like the father I never knew. I think you'd like him," she said with a smile.

"Perhaps you can introduce me someday," he replied.

"I-I'd like that!" she exclaimed with a wide grin.

"The path ahead is now clear. We may proceed," Omega announced. Sure enough, he easily cleared aside the tunnel that was once full of debris from the cave in several years ago.

"Let's go. We've kept Mephiles waiting long enough," Shadow said, dusting himself off as he stood up.

"Shadow," Azure started as Shadow turned back to look at her, "This was nice, just talking. And I want you to know that no matter how this ends, it was an honor knowing you."

Shadow curtly nodded at her, before all three proceeded down the mining tunnel towards the desert temple.

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><p><strong>So let me start by saying that there was no way in hell that I was going to even try and justify the existence of the Scepter of Darkness. Think about it: in a highly advanced and secret SCIENCE project, they choose to create a mystical scepter as an emergency procedure. Here's why I don't buy that: how could they possibly know that Solaris would split into Iblis and Mephiles? Clearly the Scepter is specific to Mephiles since the Duke gave it to Shadow to use on Mephiles. Do you see how some things just don't make sense, SEGASonic Team?**

**Anyway, I didn't even want to bother trying to justify that, let alone how a machine would even create the Scepter, like just the Scepter and nothing else.**

**Also, I figured if I just finished the chapter after they got out of the lab, it would be too short. So I continued a bit more just before the start of the Dusty Desert level. Plus I thought a nice little conversation between Shadow and Azure would allow for a good bonding moment between the two. We're nearing the end, I can almost taste it. **

**Review ~ZP**


	17. Battle at the Desert Palace

**Here's another chapter. It was originally just going to be my adaptation of the Dusty Desert level, but I'm really tired of writing the game's levels in a story format and figured I should just get right to the Mephiles boss fight. So here you are! Don't think there's much else to say. I still have work, school starts next month and I'm making great progress on my Hawke and Fenris cosplay. **

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure and other OCs. Thanks for all the reviews, +favs and +alerts. **

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

The floor inside the desert palace crumbled to pieces and collapsed as Shadow, Azure and Omega emerged from the hole leading from the underground mining tunnels. As they scanned the walls of the long abandoned palace, they turned to see the long, eerie corridor that lay before them.

"I'm guessing Mephiles is down the spooky, dark hallway?" asked Azure, trying to lighten the mood.

"The Chaos Emerald I am detecting is coming from that direction," said Omega pointing down the corridor.

"Good, let's not waste anymore time," said Shadow, racing down the path as Azure and Omega followed close. They came to an elaborate doorway that opened as they neared it, leading them into a large dome-shaped cavern. "Mephiles!" Shadow shouted as he and his team came to a stop at the foot of the altar that stood in the cavern.

High up at the altar opposite to their entrance floated their crystalline enemy. He moved his head slightly to look at them from the corner of his eye. He didn't seem all too surprised by their arrival, but slowly turned to greet them nonetheless.

"Well played, Shadow. I should have known you would realize I'd come for the Chaos Emerald hidden here. But I was expecting you sooner. And you must already know that you are too late," Mephiles spoke, holding up the yellow Chaos Emerald as if to gloat about his victory and prize. "But I know a good opportunity when I see it and I dislike wasting things. There's still time for you to change your mind. Join me, Shadow. Let us teach this world a lesson! Show them that they cannot control someone of your power! You are a god among mere mortals! It is you who should be controlling them! Stand by my side, Shadow and we shall rewrite the future in your image!" Mephiles declared with pride and arrogance dripping in the tone and intensity of his voice.

"Don't try to deceive me!" Shadow quickly rebutted, slightly catching Mephiles off guard. "Do you honestly think you can fool me? I'm seen what you are, what you're capable of and what you truly desire. You don't care for revenge; you only crave chaos and destruction. Your only goal is to fuel Iblis' flames until there is nothing left to consume, until there is nothing left of time itself!" Shadow shouted, pointing his finger at Mephiles in accusation.

Mephiles narrowed his bright green eyes at Shadow. "It is a pity, Shadow the Hedgehog. Truly a shame that you wish to go against me! You would have made a powerful ally." Mephiles raised his arms as the yellow Chaos Emerald floated above him. Shadow, Azure and Omega were suddenly pushed back by an invisible force into the center of the arena. The ground beneath them suddenly changed to a dark purple, much like the purple of Mephiles' own variation of the Iblis creatures.

Azure nearly squealed as the thick, ink-like substance stuck to the bottom of her boots, prompting her to jump into the air and remain in a hover. "Ew…"

"I'll make sure you regret this, Shadow the Hedgehog!" declared Mephiles, flying over them and diving into the purple ground below.

"I won't let you escape Mephiles!" cried Shadow.

"Drown in darkness!" shouted Mephiles. Suddenly, the ground by a corner of the platform lit up a bright purple and pink as a large blue and purple creature with large forearms that shook when they made contact with the ground.

"Scans indicate that this entity consists of numerous shadows similar to the ones Mephiles summoned during our last encounter. It will take more force, but they can still be destroyed!" declared Omega.

"Good, Omega, don't hold anything back! Azure, give me a lift!" Azure lifted Shadow into the air as Omega laid siege to Mephiles' creature with his missiles. Azure spun around before flinging Shadow towards the creature's glowing core at its head in a homing attack. It recoiled in pain before disintegrating into dust.

Despite their victory, they turned and were greeted with three more of the same creature emerging from the other corners of the platform. Shadow sighed in annoyance before addressing Azure and Omega, "Split up!" The three broke formation, each engaging their own opponent. Within seconds, Omega's ammunition, Azure's lightning and Shadow's Chaos Spear easily dispelled the creatures.

"Enough of this!" Shadow cried, unleashing his Chaos Boost. His body began glowing a bright red as his quills moved with the power and force radiating from his body. Just it had in his last fight with Mephiles, the power emanating from his Chaos Boost forced Mephiles from his hiding place, returning the ground to it's original stone state.

"Why you… You'll pay for that!" Mephiles spat. He raised his arms, readying a large orb of black lightning and purple mist. Enhanced by his Chaos Boost, Shadow instantly teleported before Mephiles, sending him flying back with a powerful kick.

"Mephiles is weakened. It is likely summoning those initial creatures and their defeat have drained his energy," said Omega.

"Then we finish this!" shouted Shadow, as he threw a Chaos Spear with all his might at Mephiles, immediately followed by Azure's white lightning and Omega's piercing rounds.

"N-no, this cannot be…" Mephiles muttered as his body melted into a black oozing substance.

Shadow held out his hand to Omega, who handed him the Scepter of Darkness, and stepped forward to the weakened form of the immortal demon. He pulled out the green Chaos Emerald and the Scepter rose into the air, giving off a bright purple light as the ooze was drawn into the shaft of the Scepter. Shadow narrowed his eyes at the Scepter, which now once again held it's former prisoner, satisfied that this wild goose chase was now over and the threat of Mephiles had passed. But something caught his eye. The Scepter let out a bright light, forcing Shadow and Azure to hold up their arms in an attempt to shield their eyes from the blinding light. The Scepter shattered into pieces and landed by Shadow's feet as the light subsided.

Azure looked up when felt the intense heat from the light die down and gasped when she saw the broken pieces of the Scepter they had worked so hard to obtain. "The Scepter!" she cried.

In it's place floated the swirling black ooze as Mephiles deep and sinister laugh echoed through the cavern. "The 'I' of now absorbed your power through your shadow in the past," he declared, his body eventually forming from the liquid shadows. "What may have worked ten years ago no longer does!" he proudly shouted, waving his arms and unleashing a powerful shock wave that broke the tiles of the floor. He released a second wave that knocked Shadow, Azure and Omega off their feet, propelling them into the air as they landed roughly on the uneven floor with a thud.

Mephiles waved his arms and Shadow's green Chaos Emerald floated over to Mephiles' beckoning hand.

"No!" Shadow cried, trying to reach out and grab the Emerald.

Mephiles only laughed as the green Chaos Emerald landed softly in his grasp. He held it up and it floated into the air, joining the yellow Emerald as the two spun in a loop over his head. With another casual wave of his arm, Mephiles summoned hundreds, if not thousands, of minions identical to him. "You must realize now that you cannot hope to stop me with your… limited power," Mephiles said in a demeaning tone of voice.

Shadow pushed himself off the ground, seeing the Mephiles clones that surrounded him before standing up, shortly followed by Azure and Omega. "So you say…"

"It is futile. The world will betray you, all of you. Why fight at all when you know your eventual fate? Why risk your lives for those who will persecute you later?" Mephiles taunted, bending his fingers into a fist. "You saw what became of the future. Even if you stop me, even if Iblis is not released, you fate is sealed. Humanity will never see you as its hero; only as a threat. Do you consign yourself to that destiny?"

Shadow closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again and looking at Mephiles. He cast his gaze to Omega, a machine created for destruction and harm who rebelled against his creator, became his own man, in a manner of speaking, and used his _unique_ abilities for something better. Omega was, no, is one of his most trusted companions and closest friends. His eyes then shifted to Azure on his left. Under normal circumstances, it would be Rouge who stood by him in this dark hour, but Shadow felt just as glad that it was Azure. She was naïve and childish, but also brave, caring and strong willed. These were the qualities he admired. And from what he saw of her future self, she would only continue to grow into a strong fighter who never strayed from her path of righteousness. Yes, they had only known each other for a few days. But in that short time, he had seen something in her that he had not seen in a long time. It was not unfamiliar, but he had certainly been without it for so long that it began feeling strange and new. Azure had worked hard to prove herself to Shadow time and time again and she certainly left her mark on the hedgehog's life.

If he was to face betrayal by the ones he swore to protect, he would be happy knowing that companions such as these would stay by his side no matter what.

"If the world chooses to become my enemy," Shadow said, slipping off the inhibitor ring on his right wrist. "I will fight like I always have!" he proudly declared, slipping off the second ring.

Azure gasped in surprise. She had heard rumors circulating around G.U.N. about the rings Shadow wore. Some said they were just decorative accessories, but other, more accurate sources – Hope – stated that the rings were used to keep Shadow underpowered. At first she thought this was a bad thing, that he had poor control over his power much like herself. But as Hope continued, Azure learned that the rings were actually meant to keep him from burning out. Removing them would give Shadow a huge boost in power. Shadow was already an impressive individual. Seeing him at full power was an honor few could afford and she was determined not to let him down. She turned the knobs on her gauntlets up as high as she knew she could control. She did not want to risk conjuring a lightning storm in the middle of this cavern and becoming an unintended third opponent in this battle.

Shadow cast a short gaze to Omega and Azure a second time, as the two gave him a short nod, showing him that they stood with him no matter what. With nothing holding him back, Shadow raced forward in a powerful burst of energy at the army of clones before him.

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><p><strong>Well this cuts down the number of chapters until the end by 1. We're nearing the end and I'm excited. <strong>

**Next Chapter - Fall of Time: Mephiles' defeat is only a minor setback as the rest of his plan is put into motion. Time itself is falling and it seems nothing can stop it.**

**Review ~ZP**


	18. Fall of Time

**Had this written up about yesterday or so, but I've been busy at a convention. That and I really need to catch up on some shut eye. Anyway, since my partner Zac has already wrapped up the first fic of his trilogy, Family Ties - go check it out since it has a lot more background information in regards to Bloodlines than my series of fanfics will - I might as well try to do the same since we're trying to keep up the same pace for the prospective release of our sequel comic next year. With that, I'm hoping to wrap up the story of Whitewash within the next 2-3 chapters.**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure and other mentioned OCs. Any spelling and grammatical errors are my fault entirely. Thanks for all the reviews, favs and +alerts!**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

Omega shot the final Mephiles clone that stood before it melted into a thick black liquid to join the large puddle that surrounded himself, Shadow and Azure. Azure collapsed onto her knees and roughly landed on the ground in exhaustion as Shadow reached to the ground to retrieve his inhibitor rings, which he placed securely around his wrist. All three remained silent as Shadow eyed the two Chaos Emeralds that lay abandoned near the pool of black liquid.

It couldn't possibly have been that easy. Even if they had won and Mephiles was simply among the pool of defeated shadow creatures, Mephiles was immortal. Sealing him away was the only means to achieving victory against him. There was only one explanation: during the fight, he must have used his clones as a diversion and escaped.

_'But why leave the Emeralds?'_ Shadow thought, his intense gaze locked with the stone gems that lay casually abandoned by the previous owner. Mephiles had obviously gone through a lot of trouble to acquire the yellow Chaos Emerald, and even with Shadow's green Emerald in hand, why would be run and leave them behind?

It just didn't make sense.

"Hey, we've got both the Emeralds! That's good, right?" Azure asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"It's odd, though. Mephiles doesn't do anything without a reason. So why would he leave the Emeralds behind?" Shadow asked out loud.

"Maybe he forgot about them?" Azure innocently suggested.

"He isn't like that. Even if his focus was escape, he'd have nothing to fear of death. He certainly wouldn't be so distracted as to forget bringing the Chaos Emeralds with him," Shadow said softly, as he bent down to retrieve the Emeralds.

All of a sudden, a bright, white light shone from the Emeralds. Shadow and Azure stepped back in shock, shielding themselves from the blinding light of the two Emeralds with their arms. When the light finally faded, they opened their eyes only to find themselves atop a floating platform that greatly resembled the large torch structure that stood in the center of the Old Town of Soleanna within a dark, purple clouded dimension.

"Wh-what is this place?" Azure asked.

"Silver?" They turned their heads to see Amy, Tails and Knuckles addressing the white hedgehog. "What are you doing here?" Amy's voice filled with confusion.

Azure's eyes widened at the sight of Silver. The white fur. Those blue circular marking on his palms and the backs of his hand. _'He… he's a Psyche! But how is that possible? I thought Alex and Phoebe were the only ones alive!'_ She forced these thoughts to the back of her head. There were more important things to be focusing on and she couldn't risk revealing the truth about her people.

"A-Amy?" Silver cried in shock. "I have no idea. I don't even know where here is let alone how I got here!"

"Mephiles is the cause of this, that I am sure of," Shadow stated, causing the others to turn their heads towards them and acknowledge their presence.

Silver blinked for a moment when he first saw Azure, "Hey, you-"

"W-what?" Azure asked, growing nervous.

However, Silver retracted his statement. "Uh, nothing. You just… looked like someone I know."

"I must admit that I did not foresee this course of action." Everyone turned to see Eggman as the chubby human made his way over to them.

"But that still doesn't explain where we are! What the heck is going on?" shouted Knuckles in anger.

"I believe I can answer that."

Shadow's ears twitched when he recognized the voice that spoke. "Z…" he said, along with Silver, causing them to look at each other in confusion before they returned their gaze at Z and Umber who neared their group.

"This is a time-space distortion. We are in a world where the laws of time and space don't apply," Z said.

"That's right. Watch," said Umber. In a split second, Umber drew one of his pistols and fired a shot directly at Eggman's chest. The force of the bullet knocked Eggman back onto the ground.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" shouted Knuckles.

"Relax," Umber said, softly blowing the tip of the gun before returning it to it's holder around his waist. He walked over to Eggman's body that laid sprawled on the ground. "Get up!" he shouted, giving Eggman a sharp kick.

"OW!" Eggman cried as he jolted before lightly sitting up. He gently placed his hand on his chest where Umber shot him.

"I've wanted to do that for years," Umber said with a frightening glare and intense gaze.

"And what did I ever do to you?" Eggman asked, insulted.

"You haven't done anything to me… At least you haven't quite yet. But in the future, where I'm from, you killed my best friend. And to think it took getting dragged into a broken dimension – where I can't even kill you – to get my revenge," Umber said with a growl. He turned back sharply when he felt a firm hand on his shoulder and looked into the eyes of his younger sister. She did not have to say anything, for the look in her eyes was enough to tell him what she was thinking. "You're right. I… apologize."

"Z, Umber, how did you two get here?" asked Shadow.

"Wait, how do you know Z and Umber?" asked Silver.

"I met them when I was sent to the future by Mephiles," Shadow answered.

"I know you're confused right now Silver, but I promise you I will answer whatever questions you have when this is over. We've been monitoring your progress from the future and the changes that affected our future. Next thing we both knew, we were brought here," she explained. Z was about to continue her explanation, but stopped when she saw her younger, past self hesitantly walk up to her with wide eyes in disbelief.

"Y-you…" Azure stuttered, shakily pointing her finger at Z. With great hesitation and shaking palms, Azure lightly poked Z's cybernetic leg, as if trying to see and feel for herself whether this was truly who it appeared to be, or just a trick.

"I can assure you, I'm very real," Z said, bending down to Azure's level. "I'm you, two hundred years from the future," Z said with a confident smile.

"T-two hundred years?!" Azure exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock.

"I know this be difficult for you to process right now and I know you must have questions, but-"

"Of course I have questions! What happened to your leg and Umber's eye? What happened with Garnett? Do we still live in the Catacombs? And," Azure looked behind her to see the confused looks aimed at her before whispering another question, "Did we ever find the Orb?"

"As much as I'd like to play reunion, we've got bigger problems," said Umber, pointing to the bright light in the sky above them.

"B-but!" protested Azure, though she was quickly silenced in favor of their dire situation.

"Umber and I have reviewed everything that's happened in the span of the past few days. Mephiles was behind everything that happened," Z said, turning her head to the side. Everyone followed her gaze and saw a white furred mink with red-brown hair in a white dress kneeling on the ground with Sonic's head in her lap.

"S-Sonic?" Amy cried in shock, rushing over to his body, closely followed by Tails and eventually everyone else who gathered to see the fallen hero.

"No… it can't be," Tails whined.

"N-no, I can't believe this is happening! Sonic!" Amy wailed, falling to her knees and burying her face in her hands as the warm tears flowed freely from her eyes.

"Mephiles is a master manipulator. He took advantage of Eggman's kidnapping of Elise in order to foster a meaningful relationship between her and Sonic. And when the time was right, he moved in to execute the final stage of his plan. By killing Sonic, Elise would become consumed with grief and despair. The release of her tears meant the release of Iblis. I had hoped we had more time to prevent this…" Z explained.

"So that's why he wanted me to kill Sonic before…" Silver muttered with self loathing and disappointment. "How could I have been fooled so easily!" he shouted, angry with himself.

"It's not your fault Silver. Mephiles thrives on manipulating others into doing his bidding," said Umber. Suddenly, the light above them flickered and a loud, echoing roar rang through the empty dimension.

"What was that?" cried Tails.

"That is Solaris, the god of time, and the end result of the fusion between Mephiles and Iblis," answered Z. "This is what Mephiles has been preparing for. The two halves created by the Solaris Project are now once again whole."

"This creature will consume all existing timelines until time itself will collapse and disappear into nothingness," said Eggman.

"Solaris' rampage is causing the time stream to become unstable. It won't be long before this place will be consumed as well," said Shadow.

"We've got no time to waste then! We have to defeat it now!" Knuckles shouted.

"Were it so easy. Solaris is a god of time. Gods do not die so easily," said Eggman.

"I don't believe you! There must be a way to defeat him! I won't let my world be destroyed like this!" shouted Silver, clenching his hands into fists.

"It would certainly be possible… if he were still alive," said Shadow.

Everyone remained silent and hung their heads at the repeated mention of the now deceased Sonic. Elise had stayed quiet during this entire time, likely out of her grief and mourning, but her head suddenly shot up when she felt a soft breeze hit the back of her neck and push her hair up lightly. "Sonic…" she said softly.

"What's the matter?" asked Silver.

"I… I can feel his presence in the wind. It's like Sonic isn't gone, at least no completely," she answered.

"There must be something we can do," said Tails.

"There is," said Z, stepping forward. "We can use the Chaos Emeralds to resurrect Sonic."

"W-we can do that?" asked Azure in shock.

"Yes, the Chaos Emeralds are immense sources of power. You of all people know what they are capable of when all seven are gathered," said Umber.

"But to restore life and undo death... is nothing like we have ever attempted before. Are they capable of such a feat?" asked Shadow.

"They are," Z answered confidently.

"And how can you be certain of this?" asked Knuckles.

"Because I'm living proof."

"Y-you mean I, we… you died?" asked Azure, her eyes wide in shock as her voice nearly cracked.

"I did, but the Chaos Emeralds were used to bring me back to life. So I know it will work."

"You never told me about that," said Silver.

"It was long before you were even born, Silver," said Z.

"But how do we get the Chaos Emeralds?" asked Amy.

"Solaris flung the Emeralds to the farthest corners of this broken dimension," said Eggman.

"Then we'll have to split up to get them all in time!" declared Tails.

"Let's go then," Umber said to Z.

"No."

"What?" Umber asked confused.

"I'll go with Azure. I want you to go with Shadow," Z said, walking up to Azure

"You want me to go with _him_?" Umber shouted, pointing at Shadow while that last word nearly dripped with venom.

"Y-you want to go with me?" asked Azure, pointing to herself.

"You put me in charge for a reason, brother," Z said in a serious tone.

Umber narrowed his eye at his sister before turning his glare to Shadow and back to his sister. "Very well, sister. If you think that's best."

"I do. Now let's move out. We can't afford to waste any more time." Everyone nodded their heads in agreement at Z's order before they quickly scattered.

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><p><strong>Well, so a lot happened right? I remember a while back someone asked me if Azure was ever going to meet Z. There was a reason I only said "maybe" ;) Honestly, when I thought up Z in the first place, I knew right away that I wanted her to make a reappearance in the Last Story arc.<strong>

**If you were hoping for another Mephiles fight, sorry to disappoint you. I had no intentions of writing it out because I'm not only tired of writing out gameplay levels in story format - as I've previously stated - and I had already written out a fight with Mephiles - on top of the one I wrote out earlier - and didn't feel the need to write out a third one immediately after the second one. It felt redundant. Plus I wanted to get the story going.**

**So when I was watching the cutscenes for the Last Story, I just hated listening to Silver talking about the cheesy miracles and dreams aspect of the Chaos Emeralds and how Elise had the power to use them to bring Sonic back from the dead. It was just so cheesy and stupid, I decided to take a different route with that. **

**Next Chapter - Broken Worlds: Everyone has scattered to find the Chaos Emeralds in hopes of resurrecting Sonic, with Azure tagging alongside her future self - for whom she has oh so many questions! - while Umber is stuck with Shadow, a person he harbors great dislike for.**

**But ho, that's not all is it? So apparently Eggman did something in the future that led directly to the death of Umber's best friend, Lobo, and the Black Dog has had it in for the Doctor ever since. And the details get more juicy! What about Garnett? What is he planning? And what's the Orb?**

**Anyway, please review! You know I love to hear from you guys!**


	19. Broken Worlds

**Still working to finish up this story soon. School's actually starting some time next week so I'm hoping to wrap the story up by then so I can start working on the sequel.**

**I had a lot of fun writing this chapter so I hope you enjoy it. Any spelling and grammar mistakes are my fault as a writer.**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure, Z, Umber and other mentioned OCs. Thank you for all the reviews, favs and +alerts! Your feedback is much appreciated!**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

A rip in time and space opened up as Azure and her future self, Z emerged from it from the broken dimension. They landed on a wooden pier in the middle of an ocean surrounded by tall rock pillars.

Azure may not have needed to state the obvious, to a being who was basically herself no less, but she found everything incredibly nerve wracking. No, this wasn't about the immortal time god that was ripping apart time and space itself with every passing second – well not completely anyway. This was about the person who opted to go with her on their desperate search for a Chaos Emerald: herself from two hundred years in the future. There were just so many questions Azure wanted to ask about the future, hers and everyone else's. It was like looking in a mirror. The two could have passed for twins, but Z was much taller than her, her horns and wings both larger and her hair longer. But the most striking difference was the eyes. Azure's eyes were wide, open and brimming with life and excitement. Z's eyes on the other hand, were tired, weary and so full of disappointment and sadness. Azure didn't need to hear a monologue from Z to see the pain in her eyes. But the question that burned in the back of her mind was what had caused that pain and sadness to begin with. What was she to face in the coming future? Would she be able to prevent it if she knew what the outcome would be?

"This… this looks like the beach near Soleanna," said Azure, scanning the area.

"Yes, but it's not the same," remarked Z as they noticed the sky was a dark, cloudy grey while the horizon was lit a bright purple, eerie wind gusted by and general unsettling state of this place that sent shivers down their spines. Water and rocks were floating out of place, no doubt a result of space warping all around them, as Iblis Takers appeared all around them. "This is worse than I expected. This place is falling apart too quickly. We have to find that Emerald!"

"W-well, I don't think they're gonna let us pass," said Azure, as the Iblis Takers closed in on them.

"We don't have time for this! Stay close to me," Z said in a serious tone, casting her tired gaze at her past self. Azure didn't hesitate to stand securely next to Z just by her left leg and tail, which instinctively wrapped around Azure's shoulders and pulled her close.

"What are we going to do?" Azure asked.

Z didn't answer and simply stared up into the sky as her eyes began glowing white. Azure could feel the electrical energy surging across Z's scales and knew what was coming. It made her scales stand up in anticipation and her chest became heavy in fear to the point where she almost couldn't breathe. She knew this feeling all too well for she had spent all her life trying, and failing, to master it. Dark clouds gathered over them and when Z waved her arms with quickness and grace, bright white lightning shot down from the storm clouds, instantly striking each Taker with precision that Azure would only dream of, reducing them to ashes that lightly floated onto the water below.

Azure gasped when a Mephiles Golem suddenly appeared behind Z on the harbor platform, causing one of the legs to give out and the platform to fall on an angle. "Z!" Azure shouted.

In an instant, Z turned around and with a threatening growl, raised her arms at the Golem, shooting two bolts of lightning from both her hands right at the core of the Golem, knocking it back into the water as it exploded into pieces of purple debris. Z dropped her arms to her sides and panted heavily as the clouds above dispersed and the white glow that surrounded her faded.

"That… that was amazing!" Azure cried, her eyes wide with admiration and bewilderment. "I mean, the way you just conjured that storm and destroyed those monsters so quickly!"

"I've spent most of my life hiding from my powers, afraid of the damage they could do if I let them get out of hand," Z started.

Azure looked at the gauntlets on her forearms. "Yeah, I know that feeling."

Z knelt down to Azure and put her hand on Azure's shoulder. "I know it scares you. The uncertainty, the very thought of your lightning hurting someone you care about. But it's those fears that drove me to control my power. I… we were born with it for a reason. Whatever Garnett may say about our power, it's us, you who gets to decide what it's used for, not him. You will control it," Z whispered confidently, giving Azure's shoulders a soft squeeze.

"Speaking of Garnett…"

"Oh boy, I knew this was coming. Look, what happened with Garnett…" Z sighed, rubbing her temple with her fingers.

"Please, I need to know! I need to know how to stop him!" Azure pleaded.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know."

"Y-you don't?" Azure asked, disappointed.

"No, Garnett was killed by Iblis before he could even carry out whatever crazy plan he had. I know just as much about Garnett as you do. It wouldn't matter anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"I only exist because the timeline, your future, has gone about with Iblis and Mephiles in it. If we succeed, they will be stopped and their interference won't affect your future, and the future version of yourself that you see before you will no longer exist," Z explained.

"You'll die?"

"Not exactly. I'll just change. The future I came from will be rewritten and who I am will be rewritten along with it. Who I'll become, where I'll be…" Z let out a light chuckle. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"I know you can't tell me any more about Garnett, but you must know of something I can do to stop him! He's evil. I know I got away, but it's only a matter of time before he finds me," Azure cried in fear.

"I really don't know. He's a phoenix, so he's immortal. I suppose you could beat him if you found the Orb. But it's been lost for thousands of years, even long before the Purge. Finding it would just be a wild goose chase," Z sighed.

"A what?" Azure asked in confusion.

"It's slang for a pointless search. I learned it from Shadow. Let's go, this place is falling apart and we need to find that Chaos Emerald." Z pulled out a small handheld computer.

"What is that?"

"Chaos Emerald locator. A war broke out when I was twenty-one and Chaos Emeralds were necessities for survival and an upper hand. Damn it!" Z cursed, smacking the computer with her hand. "The space time distortion is messing with the map, but at least the signal tracking still works. The Emerald's that way," Z said, pointing off to an island formation in the distance.

Just as Azure was about to take off and join Z in flight, she felt a force pull her back. She reached her arms out, desperately flailing in a fruitless attempt to grab onto Z. She called out to her future self and screamed when she saw a large round eye with a menacing slit staring at her, taunting her as if to say "you're too late."

Z turned when she heard her name and her eyes widened when she saw the large eyeball drawing Azure towards it. Z quickly fired her grappling hook at Azure, which quickly wrapped around the young dragon's wrist as she held onto it for dear life. Z began to feel the eye pull her towards it as well, and quickly dug her uncle's old bladed cane into the wooden panels of the platform.

"What is this thing!" Azure shouted over the whirling sound the eye made as it drew in everything near it.

"I don't know! But I'm guessing that getting near it is out of the question! They're probably part of Solaris!" Z's head snapped up when she heard the panel her blade stuck in began to break. She could almost see the cracks slowly forming and silently cursed again. "Hang on!" she cried, turning back to Azure. The rocket in the sole of Z's right leg suddenly kicked up, pushing them away from the eye, but they were still caught in its powerful grip. She gave the leg a sharp kick with her left foot, which gave the rockets the necessary persuasion they needed, giving Z enough force and speed to break away from the eye's grip with Azure in tow. When they pulled away, they quickly fled to one of the rock pillars that stood in the water and clung to the side. "I'm going to keep you tied to me. That way I can pull either of us out if we get too close to the eyes."

"Ok!" Azure stuck close to Z as they flew towards the Chaos Emerald. A few more eyes popped up as they flew, but Z's precision flying and handy rocket booster in her leg kept them well enough away. Though Azure was naturally curious, she was in no hurry to find out what happened when you touch that eye. "There it is!" Azure pointed to the beach that grew closer to them as the bright glow of the cyan Chaos Emerald came into view.

"Good, let's head back to that rip in space we came through and get back to the others. With any luck, they've encountered little resistance," said Z, clutching the Chaos Emerald.

"I've been meaning to ask, why did you want to come with me instead of going with Umber?" asked Azure, as they flew back to where they started, flying higher to avoid the eyes that formed at water level.

"I figured you'd have a lot to ask me."

"Is that why you sent Umber with Shadow?"

"No, I sent our dear brother with Shadow because Umber needs to learn a thing or two about Shadow. And he needs to see it with his own eyes rather than hear it from me."

"Why does Umber hate Shadow so much? Did he do something?" asked Azure.

"It's not what Shadow did; it's what he didn't do."

* * *

><p>"Kingdom Valley… fitting," Shadow said as they stepped out of the space-time rift into the familiar stony valley with the abandoned castle in the distance. However, the sky was a bright purple along the horizon as dark storm clouds littered the sky above them.<p>

"The Emerald is up that way," said Umber, pointing up the broken pathways leading up through the valley.

"How do you know?"

"Built in Emerald locator," he said, pointing to his cybernetic eye. "Let's get this over with. The less time I spend near you, the better," said Umber, racing off.

"I get the feeling you don't like me very much," said Shadow, jumping up various pillars and ropes alongside Umber.

"Gee, whatever gave you that idea?"

"It doesn't matter to me. I don't care about being liked." Shadow raced along the side of a wall towards an upper ledge and smirked as Umber remained in the same spot, unable to follow.

Umber placed his hand on the wall before his entire body became consumed with black shadows and he merged into the wall. A swift black shadow raced along the side of the wall before Umber stepped out of it next to Shadow. "That's just your problem: you don't care! You never do, unless it's about you. You don't know how much it breaks my heart to watch my baby sister give up everything for you and you don't even show her the slightest appreciation!"

"Now isn't the time for this kind of conversation," Shadow said, narrowing his eyes.

"No, this is the perfect time for the conversation! What is it about you that makes her devote every fiber of her being to you? No matter what she loses – no matter who she loses – because of you, she still stands by you. And after years of loyalty, there's not even a single 'thank you?'" Umber shouted, pacing back and forth.

Shadow didn't answer and noticed the golden ring around Umber's finger. "You're married."

"Yes," Umber answered curtly. "And she died to save myself and Z, while we were trying to save you," Umber said, pouring all his hate towards Shadow in that last word as he violently pointed his finger at the black hedgehog.

"So that's what this is about. You're mad because your wife died and you're blaming me," Shadow stated in his signature monotonous tone of voice.

"It's not just about Raphaella! Even after losing Raph and Azreal, even when she died helping you, she still stands by your side! I just don't get it. And you don't even show her any appreciation! She loves you so much. She gave her life for you and she would gladly do it again and you don't even show her how much her sacrifices mean to you… how much she means to you. It breaks my heart to see my sister throw her life away for someone like you, someone who doesn't appreciate everything she is!"

"What Azure chooses to do with her life is her choice. Neither you nor I have any control over it. What you see as a waste of time is clearly not the same to her," said Shadow. "Besides, Azure is my friend. I don't know what you're looking for from me, but I know that I don't have the answers you're looking for. I've only known Azure a few days and in that time she has more than proven herself to me. If she chooses to spend her time by my side, then so be it. I won't stop her from doing what she wants."

Umber groaned out loud in frustration and punched the canyon wall. "You are infuriating! Nothing is ever simple with you, is it? If I could go back in time right now, I'd stop her from running away from home and ever meeting you in the first place!"

"She ran away from home?" Shadow asked, cocking his eyebrow.

"Don't pretend to take an interest in her life now! You had plenty of time to help with her problems but it was always about you!"

"You seem to be forgetting that I'm not the Shadow you know! You're letting your feelings get in the way of our goal. We must find the Chaos Emerald."

"It's right up there and it's not going anywhere!" Umber shouted, pointing to a ledge above them where the red Chaos Emerald casually floated. "You're not changing the subject that easily!"

"If you dislike me so much, why come with me now?"

"Z's the leader and I follow her orders. But I figured I could take advantage of the situation. You know what my sister feels for you, what she will come to feel for you and I want you to treat her the way she deserves to be treated. Break her heart and I will hunt you down and kill you," Umber whispered in a threatening tone.

"You can sure try," Shadow responded confidently to Umber's threat.

Umber waved his arm, a wave of his darkness powers gliding up alongside the wall and grasping the Emerald before bringing it back down to him. Just as he was about to hand the Emerald to Shadow, he pulled back. "Just tell me one thing: do you love my sister?"

Shadow stared at Umber before answering. "Even if I did, you wouldn't like my answer regardless."

Umber shut his eye and sighed. He would never admit it openly, but Shadow was right. If Shadow said 'no,' then Umber would continue to hate him for the same reasons he recited earlier. Alternatively, if he said 'yes,' Umber would just continue resenting Shadow. His overprotective brotherly instinct would always label Shadow as unworthy and undeserving of Azure's life and love. With reluctance and great self-loathing for doing so, Umber handed the Chaos Emerald to Shadow before turning to leave this world.

"Wait, Azure does not speak of her family, of you, that much. Why?" asked Shadow, curious.

Umber sighed and turned to face Shadow. "It is our brother. He's insane and evil and Azure was the only one brave enough to defy him. The rest of us were just cowards… I was a coward. If you can do something about Garnett, my opinion about you might just change."

"What can you tell me about him?"

"Garnett is our eldest brother, the head of our House and therefore the leader of our people, as is his birthright. For years, he has kept my brothers and sisters and I on a short leash, all in preparation for this plan of his."

"What plan?"

"I do not know. I only know that it requires all of us. You are immortal; that is something you share with Garnett. But I warn you, he won't be easy to defeat."

"I won't lose to him," Shadow said with confidence.

"Perhaps you should face one opponent at a time. Though I can't be sure if your courage is inspiring or simply a mark of your insanity. However, I am beginning to see why my sister finds you so… admirable."

"Let's go. Azure and your sister will be waiting for us," said Shadow, jumping down to the lower edge back to their entry portal.

"Technically, they are both my sisters."

* * *

><p><strong>I think I've had my fill with writing fighting sequences. Plus I had a lot of dialogue I wanted to cover in this chapter so that's why it was mostly talking. And did I enjoy writing every little bit about it. I saw it as a great opportunity for Azure to bond with and learn from her future self while also elaborating on the relationship between Azure and Shadow from Umber as well as his relationship with Shadow. More of that will come to light in the sequel.<strong>

**Next Chapter - Flames of Hope: With the Chaos Emeralds united, Solaris prepares to meet his maker. *I will not be writing the Solaris fight sequence. Ending will not be the same as the game***

**Please review! ~ZP**


	20. Flames of Hope

**Man September really snuck up on me this weekend! I thought I'd have this done by August, but once again, I underestimate myself. That, and I spent most of the weekend going out and working on some more new Sonic characters: Rhea, Chloe and Grace the Spiders. Go check them out!**

**Thanks for all the reviews and favs. They mean a lot to me!**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure, Z and Umber and any other mentioned OCs.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

The Chaos Emeralds were placed in a circle around the body of Sonic the Hedgehog. The light that emanated from the Emeralds cast a serene glow that radiated with a feeling of warmth that was welcome by everyone standing in the broken and distorted world Solaris had caused. The Emeralds floated softly into the air, slowly rotating in place as Sonic's body floated limply between them.

Elise stepped forward as everyone else, weary from their ordeal in locating and retrieving the Emeralds across broken worlds, gathered around behind her to witness a miracle. She held her hands together in front of her face, her fingers intertwined with each other as she softly whispered a prayer. Her voice was so quiet it was hard to make out what she was saying. After a short moment, she stepped into the circle the Emeralds formed and gently placed her hand on Sonic's arm. She whispered something again – something no one could make out again – before gently placing her lips against Sonic's.

The moment their lips met, a bright white light lit up the altar on which everyone stood as they held up their arms to shield their eyes from the blinding light. When it faded, Elise had stepped back a few feet as Sonic, his fur now a blazing gold and eyes a burning red floated down in front of her… alive and well.

"Thank you, Elise," he said. Elise nodded and moved aside as Sonic stepped forward, looking at Shadow and Silver. All three exchanged looks before Shadow and Silver nodded and stepped up to Sonic. Shadow quickly glanced over his shoulder behind him to Z, who gave him an approving nod filled with faith and encouragement. Sonic held up his hands, radiating with Chaos energy, as Shadow and Silver did the same. Energy flowed from Sonic to Shadow and Silver, as their fur transformed into a brilliant, light gold color as the same aura that surrounded Sonic now surrounded them.

All three looked up at the bright light in the sky, where Solaris would be before they leapt from the altar and towards the light.

Azure simply stared as the three hedgehogs took off into the air, amazed at what she had just witnessed.

"Pretty cool, right?" asked Z.

"Yeah! Th-that was Shadow's super form right? I've heard a lot about it, but I never thought I'd see it with my own eyes."

"Was it up there with watching an immortal time god rip apart time and space itself?"

"Not even close," joked Azure. She looked back at the fight that loomed over them before turning back to Z. "Do you think they'll win?"

"I have no doubts," Z answered confidently. "I've seen what Shadow can do and with Sonic and Silver helping him, I'm confident they'll win. They know what will happen if they lose, so they'll win. They have to." Z knelt down to Azure and put her hands on Azure's shoulders, giving her a light, secure squeeze. "I know how you must feel right now. You never thought in a million years that you would ever meet me and now that you have, you were expecting me to have all the problems, to be able to face all the fights you know are coming… that you're not ready for. And I'm sorry when I say that I don't have all those answers you want. I'm sorry that I disappointed you."

"N-no! You couldn't disappoint me! I mean, I couldn't disappoint… myself?" Azure asked in confusion.

Z chuckled at the flustering of her past self, remembering when she herself used to ramble on like that. "You are strong, Azure. You are strong enough to face whatever comes your way and you will always have friends and family beside you when you need help. Never forget that."

"I won't. But… what about the future?"

"What about it? When Sonic, Shadow and Silver defeat Solaris, time will be rewritten. The future from this point will change and we will change around it. Who I am now may not be the same as who I may be once the timeline is altered. Your future is yours to decide, Azure. Only you can choose where it leads," said Z. Azure smiled and vaguely cast her gaze to Umber behind her. Z saw this and asked Azure, "Do you want to talk to Umber?"

"I-I would like that." Z motioned for Umber to come over while she stepped away, giving them space. "I really miss you, Umber," Azure said meekly.

"I guess I could say that I miss you too, but that isn't entirely accurate, is it?" he joked.

"No, I guess not," Azure said with a chuckle. "S-so, after everything that happened, to me, to uncle Azreal and even to Raph, you still stood by me?"

"Azure, I raised you after mom died. I took care of you, changed your diapers and tried my best to teach you right from wrong. I'd never abandon you. You're my sister and I love you," Umber said with a smile.

Azure couldn't hold her feelings in any longer as she jumped into the air and hugged Umber tightly. "I love you too, Umber!" she cried, tears slipping down her cheeks as she gripped Umber tightly, as if she feared he would disappear if she didn't hold him tight enough, and buried her face into her shoulder, muffling her words and sobs. "I'm sorry I ran away! I shouldn't have left like that! I shouldn't have left you all behind!" she quickly added.

"It's ok, Azure. It's ok," he said, softly hushing her as he rubbed his hand up and down her back. "It was my own fault. I got it into your head that you should always do the right thing and I guess running away was the only thing you could do against Garnett. But I forgave you a long time ago."

"And I'm sorry about Raph. I really like her and I'd love to have her as my sister-in-law."

"I know, kiddo. But when we fix the timeline, I'll see her again. I know it."

"Hey look!" Azure and Umber quickly turned their attention to the fight when they heard Tails cry out. Azure released her brother and stood back on the ground. Waves of energy were radiating from the fight as streams of light shot out across the purple clouds of the broken world.

"They did it!" Amy squealed, as everyone joined in their cheers of excitement and celebration.

Sonic, Shadow and Silver, still in their Super forms, returned to the altar and watched as Solaris broke up into several pieces when another white light enveloped everything.

When everyone opened their eyes, they were back in the main square of Soleanna Old Town. The sky was it's normal clear blue with white, fluffy clouds here and there but several people were scattered on the ground.

Umber pressed something on his eye and scanned the people on the ground. "They're all fine, just unconscious. They should wake up in a few hours, I'd say."

"Wait, what's that?" asked Azure, pointing to the sky as a white light gently floated down from the sky towards Elise.

As it got closer, they could see it was a pure white flame sitting in an ornate metal candleholder. It floated in front of Elise for a moment before she gently cupped the flame with her hands and held it close.

"That's-" started Silver.

"This… This is Solaris' original form: the Flames of Hope," Elise whispered.

"I understand now. Solaris isn't an evil god, he was just corrupted. The agony and trauma of the Solaris Project your father started caused it so much pain that it split itself into two entities: Mephiles and Iblis. It became twisted and corrupt, but it seems that defeating it has calmed it," explained Z.

"But for how long? We need to destroy it now!" barked Umber.

"What? I-I can't do that!" protested Elise, pulling the flames closer to her to protect them. "Solaris is our deity, the source of our culture and our faith! I can't just destroy him!"

"I'm sorry, Princess. I know this must be hard for you. But you are the ruler of Soleanna. You must make the decision that sees to the best interests of your people," said Z.

"But… with Solaris… I could see my father again. I could stop any of this from happening!" Elise pleaded.

"Elise," started Umber, walking over to the young girl, "if you were to do that, you'd create a paradox. You'd end up erasing the very event that prompted you to go back in the first place. Keeping Solaris would only risk the chance of what happened to your father happening again. History would end up repeating itself. You are a leader, the one your people look to for guidance and answers in times of darkness and fear. You never got to choose this for yourself, but circumstances forced you into the position unfairly. As much as you want to make a selfish choice to save someone you love, you know deep down that you have to make the right choice, the right choice for everyone."

Elise shifted her gaze from Umber towards the white flame that danced softly before her. In her hands, she held the very power to prevent the accident that claimed her father's life ten years ago. She could get him back; she could get her mother back. Everything she ever lost could easily be reclaimed. All it would take was another Solaris Project.

The Solaris Project…

Even with ten years standing between now and then, she could still remember the image of her father aside the imprisoned Solaris clearly. She was having a nightmare that night and woke up to find her father so he could comfort her. Against the words of the lab assistants, she entered the lab and arrived just in time for the explosion. She could hear the shrill cries from their god and began crying. She did not understand it then, but she realized now that what her father had been doing to Solaris was torture, torture that drove it to insanity and chaos. If that was allowed to happen again, she wouldn't know what she'd do with herself. She couldn't let herself be the cause of something so horrible…

"Yes… you're right," she sighed. "I'm the Princess of Soleanna and I must… I must do what is right for me people. It is my duty to them," she whispered, softly and gently blowing out the flame until only smoke remained.

All of a sudden, Z, Umber and Silver slowly began fading as their image became blurry. "Wh-what's happening to us?" cried Silver, looking at his arms.

"The future's changed and we're changing along with it," explained Umber.

"Wait, you're being erased?" asked Sonic.

"Not to worry, we're merely adjusting to the new timeline," added Z, putting any worries to rest.

"But what will happen to you?" cried Azure in worry.

"I don't know. I guess you'll just have to find out for yourself," Z said with a smile before she, Umber and Silver faded away.

"So, what happens now?" asked Knuckles.

"Solaris is defeated and Mephiles and Iblis are gone for good. As far as I'm concerned, we're done here," said Shadow.

"The people are probably going to want an explanation for what happened today. We should prepare some sort of statement," said Tails.

"Yes, you're right. I should prepare to address my people," said Elise.

Shadow turned to Azure and Omega as Sonic, Tails and Knuckles left with Elise. "Our mission is complete. Back to G.U.N. HQ," he ordered, as the three turned to leave the city.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry if the ending was abrupt, but I really thought to myself, how exactly do I end the chapter at the conclusion of a main mission? It's not like I can fade the cutscene to black like in the game lol. Also, I decided to slightly change how the ending of the actual game went about. A lot of people gave it a hard time since it basically said that nothing we did in the game mattered, but I was quite ok with the whole destroy Solaris, but never meet Sonic to begin with part. I thought it was pretty sweet.<strong>

**I also cut out Elise's entire speech because I hated every second of it. It was stupid, cheesy and I resent every second I've ever heard it. I kept the kiss in since I made Elise a Mobian in the rewrite. **

**But back to the main point, if I did stick with the original ending, I'd end up undoing all the adventures Azure went through as well as her development with Shadow. And lord knows that I don't want to dedicate another story just to do that when I think I did it rather well already! **

**As for the fate of Z and Umber, I think it's safe to say that they remain alive back in their timeline and retain all the body parts they lost (Z's leg and Umber's eye). Anything else is up to speculation by you guys because I really don't care about writing out Z and Umber's new future. Not that I don't care about the characters, there's simply no need for me to do so.**

**Next Chapter - Team Dark: Azure is back at G.U.N. HQ from the mission of her life, but is about to receive some important news from Commander Towers.**

**Review! ~ZP**


	21. Epilogue: Team Dark

**This chapter was really short, so I easily wrapped it up tonight. Figured I might as well have since I was in the mood to keep writing and finish the story. **

**Once again, I thank you for all the reviews, favs and wonderful support from you guys. Thank you for sticking with me for this story and I hope you enjoyed it!**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure the Dragon and other mentioned OCs.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

"Well? What do you think?" Azure asked as Hope sat across from Azure in her lab. Azure looked at Hope with optimistic eyes, holding a digital data pad in her hands – her report on the Scepter of Darkness mission. Azure sighed and hung her head. "I should leave out the parts about the time travel… shouldn't I?"

"Yeah, I would leave those parts out, especially the part where you meet your future self and your future brother. They just… it just sounds really farfetched in the bigger picture," said Hope.

"You mean crazy?" asked Azure.

"Wha? No! Of course not!" cried Hope, waving her arms.

"Yeah, you mean crazy," Azure sighed. She pulled up a chair next to Hope at her workbench and began editing her report on the data pad. "Do you think Shadow's going to mention the time travel? Because if he is, I really think I should too, otherwise the Commander might get suspicious if my report doesn't coincide with Shadow's."

"Knowing Shadow, he'll only put down the crucial information. I've skimmed a few of his reports in the last year and they're really short and to the point. Chances are Shadow's only going to include information strictly related to the mission."

"Well, here's hoping my first mission report doesn't come back to bite me," Azure muttered as she submitted her report to Commander Towers. Nearly a minute later, the data pad beeped, signaling that she received a new message. "Oh man, the Commander wants to see me. I'll see you later, Hope." Azure waved goodbye as she flew out of the lab towards Commander Tower's office.

She lightly knocked on the door. "Come in," she heard form the other side. She slowly opened the door and poked her head inside.

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yes, Azure. Please have a seat," he said, motioning to the chair opposite to him. "Excellent work on the Scepter of Darkness mission. It's a shame that it was destroyed in the process, but a resource is better destroyed than in enemy hands. And the revelation of this Solaris Project is… enlightening. We had intended to modify the Scepter to use it as a power source but it brings relief to these old bones to see it shattered."

"You don't know the half of it," Azure muttered to herself quietly.

"Pardon?"

"Oh, nothing!"

"Anyway, you're probably wondering why I've called you here. You recall that Agent Rouge of Team Dark is still away on an undercover mission abroad?"

"Yes, that was the reason you sent me to White Acropolis instead," answered Azure.

"Correct. It appears that Rouge will be preoccupied with her mission for a rather extended amount of time, leaving Team Dark one member short for team missions. Team Dark is one of our top strike teams and being short a member will negatively affect mission executions, subsequently reflecting badly on G.U.N. Would you be interested in filling that position?"

Azure simply sat in her chair, taken aback by what Towers had just asked her. "Uh… are you asking me to join Team Dark?"

"Temporarily, of course, until Rouge returns. But I can understand if you wish to decline…"

"N-no! Of course not! It would be an honor to serve on Team Dark sir!" Azure cried with excitement, her smile stretching wide across her face.

"Good to hear. The rest of Team Dark is preparing for another mission so report to the hangar bay as soon as possible," said Towers.

"Yes sir!" Azure said with a salute. "If I may ask," she started, before exiting his office, "I know I'm not the best agent here, so… Why?"

"The initial idea was not mine, but came to me as a suggestion."

"From who?"

"Shadow," answered Towers.

"Shadow? R-really?" she asked, a light blush forming over her cheeks. She turned her head slightly away from Towers to hide her blush under her long bangs, trying to keep her composure.

"Yes, he came to my office after you all returned from Soleanna and suggested placing you on the team. He must see a lot of potential in you," Towers said with a proud smile. "From this moment, it only gets harder. Your training will only grow in intensity and the missions will be more high risk, but under Shadow and Omega's tutelage, you should be just fine. Don't waste this opportunity."

"I won't, sir!" Azure gleefully cried before racing off to the hangar bay. Just as she arrived, she spotted Shadow and Omega just finishing their mission prep.

"Organic social protocol dictates that I should congratulate you on joining the team," said Omega.

Azure chuckled at Omega's attempt to act like an organic. "Thank you, Omega. You say the sweetest things."

"Are you ready? We're moving out soon," said Shadow, pulling at the cuffs on his wrists.

"Yeah. And Shadow?" Shadow turned to face her. "Thank you," Azure said with a smile.

Shadow stared at her for a moment before turning his head back to the hangar doors. "Don't make me regret it. Team Dark, move out!" he declared, silently smiling to himself as his team boarded the helicopter that would take them to their next mission.

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><p><strong>Well, that's it. Whitewash is officially COMPLETE! I had a wonderful time writing this story and I'm glad I could share it with you wonderful readers. I'm even more glad that you enjoyed reading it!<strong>

**But wait! The story doesn't end there! Press the good old "Next Chapter" button to get a sneak preview of the sequel, Hostile Encounters!**

**Until next time! ~ZP**


	22. Sequel Preview: Hostile Encounters

**WARNING: This chapter is a quick prototype and may not be the same once the official story is released. Basically, I just wiped this up tonight so it may be full of some spelling errors. I would like to better improve some of the dialogue, but once again, this is just a sneak peak.**

**Without further adieu, here is the preview to Chapter 1 of Hostile Encounters!**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, only Azure and other mentioned OCs.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

Nearly a month had passed since Azure took her place alongside Shadow and Omega as a member of Team Dark. Technically, she was a substitute member for Rouge the Bat, but that didn't matter to her. She was part of the team with her greatest idol and inspiration. She couldn't be happier. True to Tower's word, the missions were dangerous and high risk. Many times she felt like this would be it, her final moments, but Shadow and Omega were there to help her.

But it wasn't like they were always bailing her out of trouble. Azure was determined and always persevered and made sure to contribute to the team rather than hinder it.

"Mission status?" asked a G.U.N. agent as Team Dark entered the hangar of the G.U.N. HQ.

"Target neutralized," replied Shadow.

"Excellent work, Team Dark. Take a break, you've earned a long rest."

"So, what should we do for a break? Catch a movie?" asked Azure.

Not one to actually take a break, Shadow and Omega proceeded straight to the sparring ring in the training center, earning them an expectant "of course" from Azure. She however, strolled through the hallways towards the exit of the HQ but she stopped when she heard a sultry and low female voice coming from the adjacent hallway.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here." Azure looked over to the hallway and saw a white bat in a black cat suit, white gloves and boots with pink hearts on the toes of her boots and chest. "So, you're the little rookie that's taking over for me."

Azure suddenly felt all the bravery and confidence she had built up over the last month leave her body. She instinctively backed into the wall until she felt the cool metal touch her wings and tail as the bat advanced on her. She had faced killer robots, fire monsters and even faced a vicious god. But what was it about this one bat that made her feel so weak and insignificant.

"You must know who I am, right?" the bat asked with a smirk.

"Rouge… Rouge the Bat," Azure answered meekly.

"Oh, very good. Since you're still new here, I'll make things clear: you're just a rookie. Don't let it get into your head that you're suddenly something special just because Towers asked you to fill in for me. I worked hard for my spot on that team and if you think I'm going to let some little rookie come out from under my nose while I'm away and steal it then you're wrong. This is my house and my team. You were just keeping it warm for me," Rouge said, bringing her face closer to Azure's and lowering her gaze into a vicious glare.

Azure could feel her heart beating faster as Rouge's words pierced her skin, making her feel like she had just been stabbed by hundreds of daggers. A spark of lightning burst out of the tip of her tail, causing Rouge to jump back and raise her arms in defense. Azure looked at Rouge in shock, not expecting her lightning to react like that. She quickly took off in a run, putting as much distance between her and Rouge as possible.

"I hear you have a crush on Shadow!" Rouge shouted, bringing Azure to a halt. "It's really cute, you know, seeing how much you fawn over him, the way you stare at him when you think no one is looking. But why would he ever go for a child like you, when he could have a woman like me? Face it, kid. Shadow will never love," Rouge remarked with a low chuckle.

Azure tightly clenched her fist, fighting the urge to release the tears that threatened to escape from her eyes. She wouldn't face Rouge now, wouldn't give Rouge the satisfaction that her simple, but cruel words could entice this reaction from her. She took off in a run before lifting herself into the air and dashing out of the HQ, racing to the one person she knew would make her feel better.


End file.
